Reborn Brother
by spyrodramon
Summary: Four years ago was the start of peace, but now due to an accident and a string of bad luck brings our two heros to the last showdown between old enemies with new faces. Can Lan and Megaman rise to the occasion or will secrets break them apart and allow the bad guys to win? Will the rebirth be their salvation or a stepping stone to their downfall? ON HIATUS for fixing.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: My monster**

Chaud stared in worry at the familiar figure that was just several feet away from the observation glass. He stared long and hard till he was able to see his own fifteen year old self noticing that his hair had grown out into a somewhat wild, but controlled style. That wasn't much of a noticable change except for his left eye though, for it had a scar that ran through his eyebrow and ended near his cheek bone.

Chaud thought about how not only had he changed and was changing, but the rest of the world too. Change was good, but sometimes not so good and a bad example was just behind the glass.

"...Lan..." Chaud muttered to himself quietly, "How..did this happen?"

Chaud allowed his thoughts to wander to the events of fourteen hours ago, when he recieved a phone call from the Science Labs, Specifically from Dr. Hikari, asking if he could help test out the latest PET model he had just came up with. Without a thought the dual hair colored boy agree to it and left his office. Later he met up with his fellow NetSavior, also known as Dr. Hikari's son, Lan. The two teenager boys then proceeded to the Crossfusion Practice room, there they were both issued the new PET model named PET Excel, in which they each took their turns testing it out by virus busting, followed by a quick netbattle. It all went well until it came time to test the Crossfusion capabilities. Of course Lan had to go first. The fusion went smoothly and the virus busting was almost perfect, but just when Dr. Hikari was about to turn off the Dimensional Area Generators (DAG), a lose virus caused an electric charge in one, which made it impossible to turn off.

Meanwhile another complication was occuring. Lan's stripes began changing into the coloration of Hub Style, infact his Crossfusion was starting to resemble Hub style. Lan and Megaman were yelling in agony as the change became more and more intense. Mr. Famous then pulled up Lan's status on the moniter. Chaud remembered asking the dreaded question, "What's happening to him?"

Famous answered him with the dreaded answer," I don't know."

Chaud hated those kinds of answers, especially since his rival and only best friend was in unimaginable pain and now he was on his knees clutching his head.

"His power spike could cause a devastating explosion if we don't do something!" Famous exclaimed to Dr. Hikari, who was busily claking away at the keyboard trying to disable the Dimensional Area (DA). Dr. Hikari was one of the best multi-taskers Chaud knew, but right now it was one track.

"DR. HIKARI!" Famous shouted after a moment.

Dr. Hikari whirled his head to face his collegue and after a short arguement a solution was made for the power output problem. Both Famous and Dr. Hikari clacked away in a fury for a couple of minutes and then Dr. Hikari finally hit the execute button. Immediately three blue colored rings appeared and bounded the Hub style/Crossfusion, which caused Lan and Megaman to yell even louder for at least half a minute, then they were silent. Chaud guessed that the rings were limiters. Unfortunately they wouldn't be able to hold the ever increasing power output forever, but that was fourteen hours ago.

Chaud felt totally helpless to the whole situtation. Infact all he could do was wait and watch.

An hour later the silence Chaud stood in was iterrupted by a growl from his stomach. He realized it had been a long time since his last meal and he was presented with a way to escape his isolation. Alas he had to run into Maylu on his way to the vending machines.

"Where is he?" Maylu demanded roughly.

She sounded as though she might tear someone apart if she didn't get an answer, but her face was somewhat polite. Except he wasn't sure if the state she was in was perfect for his kind of answer.

"I'll tell you where Lan is, but only if you come with me and calm down." Chaud suggested praying that she wouldn' rip him a new one, while he kept his expression vague.

Thankfully Maylu had known Chaud long enough to know that when he was being vague about something, it was pretty bad. So Maylu nodded and he lead her to the cafeteria and sat down at a small table in a a corner where there weren't very many ears. He offered her some of the food he had bought, but she shook her head in response and then merely stared at her hands, waiting patiently in silence.

Fifteen minutes later Chaud finished his meal and asked,"Maylu?"

She stood and followed him for several minutes until they came to a lot less busier section of the Science Labs and stopped in front of a highly safisticated door. Chaud turned to face the red headed girl and her hazel brown eyes met his sharp, harsh blue eyes.

"For yours and 'his' sake, promise me you won't over react and reveal to anyone what is in here." Chaud instructed as his hand clutching his red PET hovered near the access panel.

"I promise." Maylu said as calmly as she could for her heart was choked with fear of what lied beyond that door, but now wasn't the time to get scared.

Chaud then progressed to swipe his PET over the access panel which chirped, "Access Granted." Making the door swoosh open.

The inside of the room was fairly dark except for the light flooding in from the hallway. Maylu walked inside a few step before stopping and waititng for Chaud to say or do something. He shut the door and walked past her and pressed a button on a panel next to a now noticeable viewing window. The window covers came off revealing a fairly familiar figure surrounded by three blue rings. Maylu let out a sharp gasp, indicating that she recognized who was behind the glass.

"Lan?" she exclaimed, "What's wrong with him, Chaud?"

Before he could answer his PET began to ring.

"Hello?" Chaud said to the PET and listened to the person on the other side of the PET. When he finished his conversation on the PET he turned to Maylu and said, "I'll answer your question later. I'm needed else where at the moment, but I'll be back." He walked to the door and continued, "Stay here." With those words he left Maylu to her silence.

So many questions she wanted to ask Chaud, but now he wasn't present to answer them now. She didn't know whether to cry or sit there and wait. Regrettably she felt like crying her heart out, but instead she thought of all the times that Lan was close to death and he kept telling her not to cry, but to smile except that would make her cry even worse. The truth though was that he'd always pull through, especially with a smile plastered to his face. Maylu then knew that he would pull through this too, and with his goofy grin.

"What is it you need me for?" Chaud asked as he walked into a room filled with sensors and monitors of some sort. There were a couple of other scientists in the room besides Dr. Hikari and Famous, who were standing in front of the biggest moniter in the room.

Famous greeted the fifteen year old and began to explain the current predicament. "Well actually we need Protoman to jack in from here then link over to the DAGs' network to check out what one of Dr. Hikari's programs found."

"Right." Chaud answered as he began his jack in procedure, "JACK IN, PROTOMAN, POWER UP!"

"Opening link." Dr. HIkari said as he tapped the keyboard with amazing speed, "Lan's power out put has been spiking a lot and his recent spike caused a rift in the DA network. So far it doesn't seem to be of any significant danger, but if his power increases any much more the limiter will break."

"So you need Protoman to see whether or not if the rift is a way to," Chaud continued, "save Lan."

Dr. Hikari's tapping of the keyboard degraded down to a stop, "Sounds like you got the 'gist of it." He complimented.

Meanwhile Protoman stood in front of what seemed to be a warphole.

"What the-" he began to say and then turned to face the cowering Mr. Program that was a couple of steps behind him, "You're sure that this is the rift?"

The program nodded heavily. Protoman gave a sigh before entering the warphole and finding himself in the remenants of a bedroom. If truth be told the room seemed oddly familiar. It took hima second to realize where he was.

"This is.." he began, but was interrupred by Chaud.

"What is it Protoman? What's there?" Chaud interrupted with a worried tone.

Suddenly the room disappeared and Protoman found himself teleported back to where he entered the warphole except the hole was gone now.

"Protoman?!" Chaud called to the PET, but just as PRotoman began to answer a sensor began to sound an alarm.

"The limiters are breaking!" a scientist shouted making Dr. Hikari pull up a video feed of Crossfusion Practice room. Sure enough the rings were disintigrating rapidly and in just under a minute they were gone. Lan's change then began to advance explosively into a Hubstyle beast-out Gregar, which then broke out of his area of containment. Everyone except for Chaud was in awe.

"Maylu." Chaud thought as he dashed out of the room shouting that they need to deploy a DA over Sci Labs. Famous complied the motion withthe help of Dr. Hikari.

Maylu knew she should run, but fear had her frozen to where she sat on the floor. It was a fear she'd never dream of or have had, but now it was a reality and it was a few feet away. She thought back to how she had heard a seemingly faint sound of an alarm and she got up to check on Lan only to find the blue rings gone and watch him change into Hub style beast-out Gregar. Then when he had noticed her through the window, the memory of Lan telling her to run if anything beasted-out, made her bolt for the door as she watched everything become psychedelic colors that the DA produced.

The sound of a light growl brought her back to the situation she was now in. She'd noticed that he had came into point blank range, practically face to face and both were like this till she noticed a claw coming at her throat.

"No, no, please no." she whispered as she waited for the choke hold.

Thankfully it never came, instead the sound of a cannon blast hitting close by directed both of their attentions. It was Crossfused Chaud. Lan gave a low, but louder growl toward Chaud.

"Hang on Maylu!" Chaud shouted as he charged forward, "Stepsword!"

Maylu could only watch as Chaud teleported in front of Lan and unleash a destructive sword slash and then teleported to her side as Lan let out a roar of pain.

"It's not safe here." he told her as he lifted her off the ground with one hand easily, "Let's get you somewhere safe."

His default sword disappeared so he could carry her with both arms and then he dashed out of there. Meanwhile Lan was crouched on the floor changing into Uberbeast-out with the Hub style scheme.

A few seconds later Maylu looked back just in time to see Hubstyle Uberbeast-out come crashing after them.

"He's coming!" she shrieked causing Chaud to look back just as he was knocked down and out, which undid his Crossfusion.

Also in a split second Maylu had changed hands and was flown down several corridors before they stopped in what used to be a boiler room.

"Okay," Maylu said, her anger getting the best of her, "Lan Hikari, I've had enough. PUT ME DOWN!"

She looked firmly into his eyes hoping he would come to his senses.

"Well, looks like the Doc was right." said a voice.

"Definitely a prize." said another.

By this time Lan was frantically searching around the vacinity for the owners of the voices.

"Hmpf. Doesn't look like much." said another, but different voice.

"Who's there?!" Lan snarled, his own voice was peculiar.

"Lan." Maylu muttered as she clung to him tighter.

A navi in the style of a samurai appeared in front of Lan and Maylu.

"How rude of us to not make proper introductions." the samurai navi said, "I am Clashman."

"I'm Crashman." said a crash dummy themed navi, that appeared next to Clashman.

"I'm Bashman." said a boxer themed navi appearing next to Crashman, "And your coming with us, except for the girl of course."

"She must die." Clashman said reaching for one of his swords and unsheathing it, but Lan was quick to retaliate by slashing off Clashman's arms after he had set Maylu down.

"Over my dead body." Lan said angrily and eerily as he attacked the other two, Bashman and Crashman.

It took less than half a minute to delete the threesome. When he'd finished he flew back to where he had left Maylu standing.

"Lan," Maylu began as he landed in front of her, "You're okay?"

Before either could say another word, Lan yelled out in pain as a light surrounded him and disappeared, which caused a huge back blast that knocked Maylu off her feet and onto her backside.

"Ow." she said indicating that she was getting tired of landing on her back.

Her muscles screamed in aching pain, for it had been a long day and being thrown around like a rag doll was not a good way to exercise. The room they were in had no light anymore because of the back blast and now the floor was torn and ragged in certain places. Maylu stood up in the darkness brushing off what dust she had gotten on her clothes and carefully made her way to where she thought Lan might be. Her pace was slow and cautious and after a minute she stopped and held her breathe to try and hear Lan's breathing and then used that sound to pinpoint his location.

After a few seconds she heard the familiar rasp of breathing and released the breathe she held. Throwing caution to the wind, Maylu quickened her pace toward her thought coordinates of Lan's location clearly forgetting about the torn up floor that would trip her up. The fall didn't bother her, it was the impact. She had landed on something warm and alive.

"Lan?" She whispered gaining no reply.

She tried to look and find his face so she could maybe slap him around a bit. After all he did put her through enough stress for the day and now he deserved a good pounding. She let out a gasp as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and noticed that the face she was staring at was not the roundness of Lan's, but more slender and not as rounded. As she looked more deeply into the person's facial details she also noticed that the skin was less tan and borderline fair.

"Who are you?"

**Chapter One: End**

_Well this is my first Rockman/Megaman fanfiction going to be at least four or three years old. I went off an old notebook I started writing this in and put down the pencil for a few long months until I finally got the inspiration to continue. As you'll probably notice as this goes on, I change up my style so you've had your forewarning. So hurry up and read chapter 2!_


	2. Chapter 2

_I own nothing, except certain merchandise pertaining to this series. Also if you want to see the original site I post it to here, /d4ku587_

**Chapter 2 "Phoenix"**

"Saito...Sai..to..." called a voice through the darkness in which Megaman stood in.

Although he wasn't wearing his helmet, dark navy blue tights, or golden armour; instead he wore what seemed to be a hospital gown.

"Sa..ito..Sai...to..." the voice called.

"Lan?!" Megaman called back, but paused for second to realize whose voice it really was, "Wait...Dad?!"

As soon as he recongnized the voice it became clearer and a bright light then blinded him. The light became dimmer as a fuzzy shadow of a head passed into the light.

"He's awake, get the doctor." said the fuzzy shadow that Megaman assumed to be his dad, "Welcome to the real world Saito."

"You mean Megaman, right?" Saito asked as he rubbed his eyes to clear his vision.

Yuuchiro gave his son a look of worry and tried to fiegn a smile and replied,"Saito, we're not sure how, but when the crossfusion broke, you materialized here as Saito. You're no longer a netnavi, you are human...my son."

"Dad?" Saito murmured as he reached a hand out to his happily tearful father. Except Saito found himself embraced into a hug that lasted a good long while before Saito noticed something missing.

"Dad, where's Lan?" Saito asked his father as he searched the scientist's expression for hints of his twin's whereabouts.

"Saito, first off, don't try and blame yourself." Yuuchiro began, which made Saito's stomach flip, "When we found him, he had a deep gash across his backside. Now no major or minor organs were hit, so he'll be fine after they sew him up."

"It won't disppear like the others scars will it?" Saito asked turning his gaze to his sheets. He was a bit relieved that Lan was okay, but still fearful of what could still happen.

Before his father could answer the supposed doctor along with several nurses burst into the room exclaiming that the room needed to be cleared. So one of the nurse coaxed Yuuchiro out of the room to let the doctor and nurse do a full scale check up on Saito. Regretably Saito found out why Lan hated hospitals so much.

After a while the doctor finished the check up and gave Saito a sedative and as the sedative began working the doctor explained that when he would wake up, he would have a roomate. With this in mind Saito succumbed to a drugged sleep.

Later the sounds of birds happily chirping nearby woke the slumbering teen. Once he'd gained his bearings, he looked over to the bed beside him and sure enough there was Lan sleeping soundly. Saito wasn't sure if it would be good to wake him or not considering the fact that he might have just came out of surgery. He chose to wait.

An hour later, just as Saito was about to fall back asleep, he heard the rustle of bed sheets and an all too familiar groan.

"Hrmmm...Mega..man." Lan moaned through the breathing mask.

"About time you woke up." Saito told his twin, "I'll call the nurse."

A few moments later after Saito pushed the call button a nurse poked her head in and asked, "Is everything alright? Do you need something?"

"My brother is awake, that's all." Saito said to the nurse cheerily.

"Oh." She replied, "Just give me a minute and I'll be right back."

Several hours later Lan awoke to the sound of light chatter and the voices sounded vaguely familiar.

"Dad, he's waking up!" said a voice and afterwards the sound of footsteps coming close could be heard.

Lan opened his eyes to just barely make out shapes and people.

"Dad..?" Lan asked as he felt a sharp pain surge down his back making him give a small grunt of pain. He then heard someone else in the room shudder, making his father look behind him and then back to Lan.

"Take it easy son." Dr. Hikari told his boy, "You were hurt pretty bad."

Lan tried to speak again, but his voice and strength to speak was fading, "The last thing...I remember..is..Mayl..."

He felt his words dissolve off his lips and his breathing became slow. Exhaustion was starting to settle in, making it hard for Lan to continue. He was so tired, so tired of everything, but he felt a jolt of worry from Saito's end of the psychic link the twins shared. Next Lan could barely make out his father arguing with another person in the room.

"Lan!" the other voice yelled.

"Saito, you're not suppose to be out of bed!" Lan's father told the other voice.

The name Saito made Lan very curious, especially when this 'Saito' person whispered into his ear, "Wake up, brother."

At the word brother, Lan immediately overcame his exhaustion. His eyes flew open and he found himself staring at a familiar and/or simliar face staring back at him. It was a boy that looked almost like him, but the hairstyle was a cross between his father's bangs and his mothers straight long hair.

"Mega..man?" Lan asked with a grin.

His twin returned the grin and said, "It's Saito now."

Yuuchiro wished for this moment to never pass, but unfortunately time goes on without us.

"Saito, Lan. I have to do some explaining to both of you, but first I need Saito to get back in bed. Sorry."

Saito nodded and did as his father had instructed.

"Lan, what happened, well actually what I have come to the conclusion of is that during crossfusion your souls became so strongly connected that a new form of Hub-Style was achieved. Though after the crossfusion broke, there was so much excess energy that it overloaded causing Megaman to come back as Saito." their father explained.

Lan spoke first, "Well I'm kinda glad this all happened then."

Yuuchiro smiled at the two teenagers.

"I better leave you two to catch up." Yuuchiro said as he headed for the door, "Get some rest too."

Meanwhile someone somewhere was up to no good.

"Doctor?" asked a man, fearful of the reprecussions of speaking.

"WHAT?!" the man presumed to be the doctor, said, "I'm busy."

"Sorry to have to report this, but Crash, Slash, and Bash were deleted." the man reported.

The doctor gave a small sneer and told the younger man, "Good, those three were no use to the organization."

"But sir, what about the target?" the man asked with a surprised expression.

"Lan Hikari and his navi , Megaman aren't totally out of reach, but my plan worked didn't it, Mr. Shun. Now go, I have other things to attend to."

Mr. Shun acknowledged his boss's command and left the room. The doctor turned to face the large moniter behind him, on it was pictures of three different profiles of Lan, Megaman, and shockingly Dark Miyabi.

"Lan and Megaman, enemies and a threat to the Blud organization." The doctor mumbled to the moniter displaying the three profiles, his gaze shifting from one to the other, "In order to end the threat you two impose, the Blud Organization deployed it's best assasin Mr. Dark. Unfortunately for you, Mr. Dark, you'd never have been asked to kill a kid before, however that was your last job with us."

The door opened and in stepped a rather young looking man. He had grey eyes, plum colored hair, his skin was rather tan for an Asian. His attire, however, was very revealing in his type of work, for he wore a skin tight, black, long sleeved shirt with grey kaprees, and black sandals, which add to his tall lanky figure.

"You requested my prescences, sir?" the fairly young man asked.

"Yes, I did." The doctor exclaimed as he turned away from the moniter to face the younger man, "Fantom. I have a special assignment for you. I need you to do a little recon on these two, Lan Hikari and Megaman, but it won't be easy. You see your former teacher, Mr. Dark, has joined forces with the disasterous duo so I only need you to do recon. Now go see Ms. Mailo she has your alias and everything else you'll need for this mission."

"Yes, sir." Fantom said with a small bow and then left the room, leaving the doctor to his indescite mumbling.

"Lan, Saito, we're almost home." Dr. Hikari exclaimed to the twins, "Be prepared for your mother's famous death hug, especially you Saito. I've informed your mother about the events that brought you back to life, but I'm not sure how she'll react to actually meeting you in person."

"I know." Saito muttered glumly as he stared at his feet.

His shoes were extras that Lan had hidden away in his closet as was the rest of his clothes. He almost looked like his brother except his hair style and body type were the only major differences. Plus he wasn't wearing the trademark bandanna, but Saito wasn't worried about his wardrobe predicament. He was nervous, but more than overjoyed to be finally going home. Regretably their father had been right about the death hug for as soon as the three of them were inside the familiar abode, immediately two were embraced into the hug.

"Welcome home." Haruka said to the twins, her motherly glow was brighter than ever now. Her eyes watered as she informed Lan of his bedroom adjustments to accomodate his brother.

"Sweet!" Lan replied to his mother and then looked to his brother, "Let's go check it out."

Both boys enthusiastically dashed up the stairs to the well known bedroom that had been rearranged with new adaptations to it. There was a dresser with labels instead of boxes stored under Lan's bed. The bed had a different frame making it easier for the second bed to be pulled out. The two teens excitedly explored the changes of the room until they were called down to dinner.

**Chapter 2 END**

_I know you must realize that I'm using Saito the original japanese name instead of the english dub of Hub. Which I think they could have done better on the english dubbing of Saito's name, but since the characters names in the english dub seem to have more electronic reference than the musically derived names of the original, I guess they wanted to stick to tradition. _

_Be on the look out for chapter 3!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III "Question Mark"**

Dinner felt different now that everyone was alive and well. It was a moment of joy and celebration, at least until the topic of school came up.

Saito didn't know what to think he was nervous about attending the school since nobody thought that Lan would have a brother. He was so deep into his doubts that he didn't notice the faint voice calling to him from within a link or rather a psychic link that he and his twin shared in which feelings and pain could be shared.

"Saito?" Lan's voice whispered through the link finally jolting his brother from his thoughts, "Don't worry, school isn't so bad. After all you've done most of my homework with me and we're the number one dynamic duo."

"It's not that." Saito sighed through the link, "it's just gonna be so weird."

Saito feelings were true to a point after all he already knew everybody, but they didn't know him as a human and reintroductions would seem ridiculous. However a good cover story for those who didn't have any clues to Saito actually being Megaman would do its job.

"Class settle down now." Ms. Mari commanded her students proudly and motion for the figure standing outside the door to come in and began to explain, "Students today I want you all to welcome Saito Hikari."

Instantly whispering erupted at the mention of Hikari, but Ms. Mari instantly silenced them.

"Saito Hikari is indeed Lan Hikari's brother in fact it seems they are twins. However instead of attending a japanese school, like Lan, he was sent to special school for the gifted in...Germany." Ms. Mari continued pausing to try and remember what all she had been told, "Would you like to add anything, Saito?"

Saito could feel the sweat forming on his forehead as he stuttered, "Umm, I-I-I...no."

Ms. Mari gave him a warm smile and gestured toward the desks, "Well if that is all then let's get you seated and begin the lesson. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask."

Saito silently walked toward the back of the room to the section of empty desks and sat a row away from his twin, who cast him a side glance before he spoke through their psychic link.

"Calm down, you look like you're about to faint." Lan said apathetically as he ignored the stares focused on him and Saito.

Saito gulped and wiped the sweat from his forehead as soon as everyone was paying attention to Ms. Mari as she was teaching a geography lesson. He could rest for now, well, until the break periods began. Mostly girls would flock around Saito asking him all sorts of questions.

"Say something in German!" one of the girls pleaded while batting her eyelashes.

Saito hesistated for a minute, since he was human he didn't have a translator program to help him, but he had been studying German the days before he was to initially start school.

"Es ist ein schöner Tag." Saito finally said, "That means, It's a beautiful day."

"To bad that statement can't be true." another girl said pointing out the sky beyond the windows and the dark clouds formulating.

The dark clouds had became a rain shower that ensued the students as they all left the school heading for home. Especially a certain group of friends following the Hikari twins, who were pretending to ignore them. Unfortunately their facade wouldn't last long.

"Lan." Maylu said firmly after they were all a good distance away from the school, "You've got some explaining to do."

Both twins gulped , as Lan tried to prevent the point of Maylu's conversation.

"I don't know what you mean." Lan stated sheepishly, "Besides the teacher told you the whole story."

"Bull crap." Dekao shouted, "You two are hiding something!"

"Friends don't keep secrets from each other." Yai chimed in.

Defeated so badly, Lan sighed heavily before ushering everyone into the Hikari home. Thankfully Haruka had gone grocery shopping that day so there would be no interference from her.

Just as everyone was settled the door bell rang. Lan answered it and found his friend and rival Chaud Blaze standing on his door step. Regretably he was asking the same questions, so Lan invited him in.

Hope stirred between the twins that this was the last of people to tell their story to.

"Well, I-um..." Lan attempted, but Saito shook his head and told him through the link that he would tell everyone the truth.

"Your questions are about me so I will tell you all about the truth." Saito told everyone confidently, "Fourteen some years ago I was born as twin to the Hikari family, but when I was eighteen months old I was diagnosed with HBD and died from it. However about that time our dad was working on making human and navi relations better so he took all that he had of me and created Megaman. That is how Lan and I were able to utilize Hub style and such, but some how during the testing of the new PET model allowed me to become human again and stand here explaining my story."

Saito paused and sighed, "I'm sorry we've kept this from all of you for so long. Lan didn't know until the fight with the Dream Virus."

Everyone was silent until Chaud spoke, "Well that explains a lot. Although it is understandable why you kept such a secret."

"What do you mean by that, Chaud?!" Yai snapped.

Chaud narrowed his crystal blue eyes and smirked as he sternly explained, "To prevent the possibilities of leaks. Imagine what could have happened if the enemy knew. Besides I believe a person has some rights to keep certain secrets. Probably best to make sure it stays a secret, hmm?"

He subtly turned his icy gaze to the others and continued, "Don't you all agree?"

A few nodded and other said aloud that they too would keep the secret till death.

As soon as the agreement was made everyone noticed the time and filed out the door. Maylu wanted to linger, however she felt it was best to not.

Little did anyone know that not too far away the enemy was quietly watching.

**-Ch 3 END-**

**Told ya'all I would post this puppy! HEHEHEH. Be on the look out for chapter four. Also I hate the dubbed name of Dekao (DEX) so I will use his original japanese name. Not much of an action chapter next one should have some subtle action though.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four "Dangerous Memories"**

As the group dispersed, little did a realization came to look to a tree about a block east of the Hikari residence.

As soon as the shadowy figured decided that no eyes would see him he dropped himself out of the tree and stared at the Hikari residence with unknown hatred.

"Hey Shino?" the shadow figure whispered as he pulled out a purple and yellow PET out of a pocket.

As a result a ninja themed navi appeared on the PET screen and answered with a curious, "Yes, Fantom?"

"Is Chaud Blaze on the list too?" Fantom asked facing the screen of the PET.

Shino scratched his head for a second and then replied, "I think so, but he is not much of a threat as Lan Hikari."

"Hmmm..." Fantom murmured, "I wonder what made sensi leave the organization after encountering the Hikari...Wait there were two Hikaris that went back into the house. Shino something isn't right here."

"Your right, Lan Hikari's file never mentioned a brother. Much less a twin." Shino said rubbing his chin in hopes of maybe releasing some unknown knowledge.

"Let's report this to the boss and get some rest. No matter how much training I had, sitting in a tree all day is tiring." Fantom added as he slipped back into the shadows and quietly moved toward the outskirts of the city to his run down hotel.

His thoughts trailed away to his feelings that became memories. His uncontrollable hatred when in the prescences of the Hikari residence, the appearance of another Hikari. He couldn't understand it all because his memories were in tatters. Every once in a while he would dream about an elogant female netnavi dressed in white and green. She would suddenly appear in his dreams and the shed a tear that reflected all he could remember.

Waking up in a dark alley with a broken PET wear clothing that seemed extremely strange to him. As he wandered out of the alley a group of men in black grabbed him and gave him a sedative. For three years all he could feel was pain and understand fear and then he awoke from his nightmare to be brought before Dark Miyabi to be his apprentice. Out of fear and hate Fantom had mad several attempts at escaping and nearly killed Dark Miyabi in one of them. Thus giving Miyabi his scar. After that he gave up and submitted to the Blud organization employed under the Doctor along with Miyabi.

Years later when Miyabi's news of betrayal came around something in Fantom snapped and lost conciousness, when he came to the Doctor promised him many things and then asked Fantom to become his personal assassin. It all didn't make sense to him, but he felt like the Doctor was the only person he could really trust.

He looked at the sky and mutter one word, "Sensi."

Meanwhile in an abandoned warehouse on the other side of town, a certain ninja let out a couple of sneezes.

"Ugh." Miyabi sniffled as he wiped his nose on his sleeve, "Either the heater needs to be turned up or someone's talking about me."

"I thought when your ears burn that meant someone was talking about you." Shadowman implied.

"No that's an american ideal, Shadowman." Miyabi said to his navi as he took a sip of his tea.

"Catching another cold, Dark?" Yuri said as she opened the door to the old office turned living quarters.

"Eavesdropping again, Yuri?" Dark shot back with a smirk.

Yuri gave a subtle grunt in reply. She didn't mind her current company too much because it wasn't just her and Needleman. Even though she was granted amnesty after the Duo confrontation she prefered to stay in hiding.

"Didja here that Lan and his [brother] are out of the hospital now?" Yuri asked as she emptied her grocery bag into the mini fridges.

Dark's eyes widened as he shouted, "WHAT?! Lan has a brother?! Yuri you better not be keeping such precious information from me!"

"Excuse me, but I'm not their assassinator!" Yuri exclaimed angrily fueling an arguement that lasted for a good few minutes.

Even though they had their quarrels one goal was clear to them, assist Lan Hikari and Megaman in anyway possible. It was a goal given to Yuri by Duo, but when Miyabi learned about it he decide to better himself and his ways by giving assistance to the heroes that saved him from his downfall and eventual possible deathes.

"Someone was watching them though." Yuri continued after the arguement.

"Who were they?" Dark inquired taking another sip of his tea.

"Just a kid in ninja clad almost similiar to yours with maroon hair." Yuri replied.

Dark nearly dropped his tea cup, which indicated trouble. Fear planted itself on his face. Everything felt frozen.

"What?" Yuri asked worriedly.

"Maroon colored hair you say?" Dark said jumpily, "It couldn't be."

"What?!" Yuri demanded .

"It couldn't be Fantom." Dark thought aloud, "I will go patrol the Hikari residence."

"Wait Dark, who is this Fantom?" Yuri demanded her impatience getting the better of her.

"He was my apprentice when i worked for an organization called Blud." Dark explained, "He was a very strange boy, in fact he was a monster. I'm not entirely sure of all the details though. If Blud has him tailing Lan and his brother then they are in danger."

"He won't be a threat when I'm through with him." Yuri growled up and making her way to the door only to be blocked by Dark.

"No Yuri..." Dark began to say, but Yuri pushed past him with ease ignoring his pleas.

Niether understood the monstrocity that they would at one point have to face was actually an old enemy in disguise. A friend and a foe.

**Chapter end.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five "Circumstances"**

Chaud let out a heavy sigh as he took a glance at the stack of papers currently sitting on his desk and the unfinished report displayed on his computer screen. Some days Chaud wished he wasn't part of the Net Savers or the vice president of his father's company IPC. Even though he could finish it all in two hours it still felt like it was too time consuming. The thing was that learning the truth had cloud his mind with many unanswered questions. How, was Saito able to return and what caused it exactly? The simple explaination Dr. Hikari had given him didn't seem quite possible. Too many impossibilities, not enough facts. Someone was up to something and once again Lan Hikari was stuck in the middle of it. A memory came to mind as his thoughts deepened.

It was just a few days after they had returned from Beyondard. It was raining heavily at the abandoned N1 Grand Prix arena. The arena still had the battle scars that Chaud and Lan had left from their epic battle.

"I got your message." Chaud called out to a silouhette of a young girl.

"Chaud!" the figure called and immediate and gracefully jumped down from a huge chunk of what was once a wall, and ran to his side.

He watched her red hair dance in the wind as she ran.

"What is it you want to talk about, Maylu?" Chaud asked his face stotic, but kind, "Shouldn't you be resting like the others."

Maylu shook her head and smile for a moment before she became serious.

"I'm sorry for calling you all the way out here, but I wanted to have no interruptions." Maylu began, "I'll get to the point."

Chaud's expression quickly contained a curious, but concerned look as he listened to the girlfriend of his rival and best friend.

"I know you all think I'm a worrywart when it comes to Lan, but I feel like we couldn't do anything for him this time around especially in the final battle. I know he was hospitalize for barely a day, however I could still see he was still weakened." Maylu explained gazing at the ground in front of Chaud's feet.

"We all were tired from that." Chaud said bluntly he was feeling a Maylu worry cycle coming on and he didn't want to stick around for that.

"I know, but Chaud I was hoping you might do something for me if not for Lan's sake." Maylu pleaded the rain turning to drizzle as the conversation continued, "Lan may be a hero, but even a hero needs a secret protector. Would you?"

Chaud was silent, he understood what Maylu was asking him to do.

"I thought I was already." Chaud stated coolly.

Maylu's expression didn't change as she met the ice cold blue eyes with her brilliant amber ones.

"Of course." Maylu said and walked past him thus ending the meeting.

Now his memories turned into another except the scene played out in his Netpolice office. Once again it was just Maylu and him. It was just barely a day after the deletion of the Sigma virus, Cache.

"I failed." Chaud said choking back his anguish.

"No," Maylu said almost in a whisper, "It was different this time and he'll never know."

"How?" Chaud asked gaining his composure.

"It'll be a secret between Dr. Hikari, you, and me. Besides its inactive so he'll be safe." Maylu stated confidently.

"Just another way to prevent a crisis everyone will say." Chaud grumbled, "What if it becomes active then what?"

"I don't know, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him as Dr. Hikari told us." Maylu quoted her expression tortured.

"I guess the doctor knows best, however we must be prepared." Chaud said his tone tired, "As a result of certain outcomes you know what we will have to do and you're okay with that?"

"That's how he would want it." Maylu replied with a small smile, "Remember you are not the only one who knows him best."

The clash of ball and bat colliding made a loud crisp cracking noise indicating that finally the small blonde had managed to hit the baseball. Everyone cheered loudly as she sprinted for first base and then barely making it to second, but now everyone was on their toes as Lan approached the plate swinging the bat dexterously. Lan was known as for hitting at least four homeruns during a game in the school's gym class, however the stakes were high since Dekao was pitching and was considered DenTech High's best pitcher.

It looked like another homerun as Dekao's team scrambled to catch the ball, but Lan had plenty of time to reach first and second base, although after stepping off third it became another story. The short stop was closing in on Lan like the others before was now scrambling. Cheering grew louder as the pair came up on home plate and Lan went into a slide and barely escaped the reach of the short stop.

Suddenly a sharp pain ensued Saito as Lan stood up and dusted himself smiling as he had snatched another win for his team. Saito instantly recognized the smile, it was one Lan used to assure people that he was fine even if he was in agonizing pain. Saito was his twin brother and would not be fooled by him, so later in the locker room after almost everyone was out Saito confronted him.

"It hurts doesn't it?" Saito asked not expecting a truthful answer.

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about?" Lan said continuing his business of putting his gym cloths away in his gym locker and trying to force it to close.

"Lan if you're in pain, I-" Saito tried to say, but he was interrupted by an angry Lan, "Just drop it!"

After that he left slamming the locker room door as hard he could. Saito was practically alone for the rest of the school day, but he knew that at the end of the day he could really confront his twin. Unfortunately Saito only found Maylu waiting outside. She looked confused as he approached her.

"I thought you and Lan left already?" Maylu told the twin not realizing that what she suggested would upset him.

Saito was certainly angered by this because not only was his brother avoiding him, he was also making him worry. Frustrated and mad, Saito shuffled past Maylu completely ignoring her. In fact he was so blinded by his anger that he accidently turned a corner to fast and practically bulldozed into someone, but he too was knocked back by the sheer force of the collision.

"Oops! Gomensai!" Saito said as he sat up from the fall.

The person he ran into had also been knocked down and was an older boy.

The older boy chuckled a bit, "Gomensai, I should be more careful."

Saito stared at the older boy for a moment taking in his features. The older boy had some kind of familiarity about him, but Saito couldn't place him. The older boy had plum colored hair, grey eyes, and was wearing form fitting cloths.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Morzan. I'm a foreign exchange student." Fantom lied.

"Really?" Saito asked suprised, "Your japanese is really good. Oh I nearly forgot, I'm Hikari Saito."

"Interesting name." Fantom said curiously, "You would be related to that famous netbattler, Lan Hikari?"

"Yeah, I'm his brother." Saito replied, "Well, I gotta meet up with him. It was nice to meet 'cha Morzan?"

"Pleasure's all mine." Fantom said as he nodded on the younger boy.

After he was out of sight a familiar voice spoke, "Still working for Blud?"

Fantom whipped around to come face to face with his old sensi, Dark Miyabi.

"I don't know, are you still a traitor?" Fantom taunted as he stealthly reached for his hidden kunais.

"Let's take this elsewhere, so we make a mess here." Miyabi suggested before taking off at lightening quick speed up and across a couple of roofs away from where they once stood.

Finally Miyabi stopped on a roof that was perfectly concealed and had a flat surface. Both stood at opposite ends.

"Fantom, I have one question before we start." Miyabi said narrowing his eyes, "Why are you still affiliated with Blud? You and I know the truth about them and their ways. Its wrong!"

Fantom glared at Miyabi as he retorted, "Unlike you, Blud actual cares about what happens to me! There is no reason for me to listen to you anymore. However I am allowed to destroy you on my mission should we meet."

As soon as those words slipped through Fantom's lips he charged and then there was a clash of kunais for a while till Fantom finally drew blood by flinging a kunai into Miyabi's side, which caused him to collaspe. Not hesitating at all, Fantom proceeded to dealing the final death blow by driving his teacher's own kunai into his heart. He almost suceeded, but was blocked by another person.

"Sorry, but I cannot let you kill him." said a woman who looked to be in her early thirties.

"For now!" Fantom growled as he threw a stealth smoke bomb and disappeared conceding that he did not wish to face the woman for she was not his true target nor was the man she was protecting.

**Chapter 6 end**

_I must admit there was a part of this story in which chaud is having some reminices that was not originally written. I was half through typing his part of the chapter and realized how small it seemed and was gonna remove it when an idea struck me. I've seen some MayluXChaud fanart and I know that they aren't the cannon couple and I'm not gonna make that so in this story because I like the LanXMaylu coupling, however I did want people to know that Maylu does interact behind the scenes with Chaud on a different level. This way I could add more depth to it and maybe make a sequel to it(BIG MAYBE)_

_I'm also not running with a MiyabiXYuri coupling they are just friends in this story or rather allies. I'm rabbling aren't sorry._


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter Six~ "TELL ME!"**

"I'm home!" Saito announced as he opened the door and proceeded to kick off his shoes before putting on his house slippers as was tradition of all Japanese household members to do so.

"Welcome home, dear." Haruka said as she came out of the kitchen with a warm smile and holding a mixing bowl attempting to stir the contents into a special batter, "Lan is upstairs already. Go on up and tell him snack will be in fifteen, okay?"

Saito nodded his head and then leapt up the stairs to the shared bedroom. He felt bad that he couldn't return a warm smile to his mother with the current thoughts swarming his mind. Determined to get the information he wanted outta his twin he burst into the room startling Lan from procrastinating on his homework. He frowned as he stalked over to the computer where his brother was sitting at and began his investigation.

"What..the..hell." He growled making Lan shrink back a bit, "Why are you avoiding me?"

"I wasn't avoiding you….I just..uhhh," He said trying to avoid eye contact at first but then looked him in the eye and pointed at the computer screen, " I wanted to get home and download this game as soon as possible."

His excuse seemed legible as Saito looked over to the screen and saw a start screen for some game called Feral Heart. He rolled his eyes at the convenience of it all, but he wasn't gonna back down, which was something he had learned from his days of saving the world as a netnavi.

"Good excuse, but I know exactly why you are avoiding me." He murmured as he turned his glare on his twin, "It still hurts, your…pain. You know I can feel what you feel so don't keep hiding it."

His hands were pressed hard into his hips so as to keep him from leaping at his brother and forcing him to spill the beans. However he continued to maintain his composure as he waited as Lan struggled to answer him.

"Well?" Saito said after a moment his gaze was ice cold.

"It wasn't anything major," Lan finally grumbled back avoiding eye contact, "not like I was gonna die or pass out from it. Why are you so hyper about a feeling of pain?"

Before Saito could retort their mother intruded into the room making the two teens pretend that they were getting along and that nothing was wrong. She smiled at the two boys happily working together for it was a far off dream she thought that it could never be true, but alas here they were.

Long ago that first night after the death of two year old Saito, Haruka could not sleep and she found herself sitting outside the twins' bedroom crying. She wasn't loudly crying just softly sobbing for her only living son, Lan. It was a few weeks later that she and Yuuchiro had their first fight after the death of Saito. The fight was whether to tell Lan about his dead brother when he was old enough to understand. Haruka was for it, however Yuuchiro was saying otherwise and had a crazy plan to back up his decision. She didn't support it and for almost a year neither spoke to each other. Just as she thought she was all for going out to file for a divorce a happy accident happened.

One day Yuuchiro left one of his work laptops in his study turn on. Haruka was cleaning and dusting his desk scowling at the mess when she heard a very faint voice call out. Thinking that maybe Lan had wandered in and was starting to speak his first words she looked around anxiously, but found no one to be in the room besides her. She went on with her cleaning and soon heard the voice again, but slightly clearer it sounded like it said, "Momma." She stopped and looked to where the voice had came from and found herself staring at the screen of the function laptop. On screen she saw a floating crystal of a bluish color. Once again the voice, now sound very familiar, called out, "Mother." She was flabbergasted as she listened to the voice emitting from the laptop.

"Momma, it is me Saito. Please don't be angry with daddy, he means well." the voice said clearly now coming from the crystal, "Daddy's plan will work. Please don't be angry with him anymore. He loves you very much and wishes to be a complete family again."

After an hour of talking to the blue crystal Yuuchiro came home and found Haruka crying, asking him to forgive her. He was surprised at this after weeks and weeks of silence between them, once she explained what she had just learned he understood. A possibility of a complete family was now a goal for him and his wife; however this goal was to be kept a secret from his son until the rightly appointed time.

-

After Haruka left the room the boys continued their earlier conversation.

"Lan ever since the accident you have been very distant with everyone including me." Saito stated looking Lan straight in the eye while also trying to pry his way into his mind with the psychic link, "Everyone including me feel like you've cut us off. Why? Something is wrong and you won't tell me."

Lan broke eye contact and looked down at his hands as he sighed, he couldn't fight his way out of this corner anymore only his brother could ever get the best of him.

"Look," he began bring his eyes to meet Saito's as he spoke telepathically, "it's just really weird that there's been peace this long and that we haven't had a need for Megaman. I know it has been about over a month since the accident, but don't you wonder who those people were and what they wanted? I mean all of our previous enemies never waited too long to launch a second attack. I feel so useless that the Net Saviors haven't got us working any of their cases. Plus there's no ultimate Netnavi to protect just his stupid Netop who always just stands there and watches."

Saito took a step back his expression worried and confused. Lan had a point that it was weird for the bad guys to sit around so long.

"I understand what you mean, but how can there be an ultimate Netnavi now that I am human?" Saito informed Lan telepathically, "More so how can I go back to being the ultimate Netnav-"

"No." Lan interrupted, "Mom, Dad, and I just finally got you back. Mom and Dad have both their sons alive. I have a brother I don't want to lose ever again."

"I know Lan. I know." Saito replied looking down at his feet, "I got to come back and complete this family as it should be, but maybe there's a way I can easily do both."

"Do you really think so?" Lan questioned his brother, "Do you think dad would know?"

"It's late now, but tomorrow we could go ask since there's no school." Saito mentioned, "Plus it'll give us a chance to research our attackers since the Science Labs are close to the Net Police Headquarters."

"Alright let's do our homework and get some rest then!" Lan beamed as he turned to his computer and shut down the game he had up and pulled up a document program while Saito stood there dumbfounded at his brother's actions, "What? I'm only kidding alright sheesh, you make it seems I'm being written out of my character."

"Phew," Saito said after a moment, "I thought a robot had replace my brother."

"Hey it takes one to know another." Lan chimed sarcastically.

"What was that?" Saito shot playfully.

"Oh, nothing you need to know." Lan chuckled as he goofed around with the computer.  
For the rest of the day or at least until they went to bed the brothers spent their time together in a forgotten happiness that they hoped they would never forget again.

** Chapter Six End**

_Sniffle….God this chapter was hard to rewrite. It looks like I am changing the story again from what I had originally written in my notebook, but this version makes more sense. It definitely ended on a better note than the original. Now I gotta figure out how to write the next chapter. _


	7. Chapter 7

** Chapter 7: Confidential**

The next morning Saito pushed his brother out of bed and got their breakfast before the left the house. Both gave Haruka a quick peck on the cheek as they said goodbye. It was a picture perfect morning for Haruka, she beamed for the rest of the day as some remembered it.

"So first we go talk to dad and then do our research?" Lan asked folding his arms behind his head acting as a cushion while they rode the subway transit.

"Hmmmm." Saito hummed as he thought for a moment allowing Lan to hear his telepathic thoughts as he did, "I wonder if we would find it more helpful to research first and then talk to dad. I mean everyone has to have filed their reports of the accident by now."

"Wouldn't those be confidential though?" Lan intruded telepathically, "I mean Chaud didn't know you were my brother before we told him, so I wonder if perhaps the information on the accident might be above our level of clearance."

Saito faced his brother with a questioning look as he replied telepathically, "Do you really think so? I mean I'm kinda surprised too that Chaud didn't have a report already read about us. We have the same clearance as he does, but what if there is no collection of reports?"

"I don't like this." Lan murmured as the transit intercom called out the district number that the Science Labs and Net Police headquarters resided in and they both stood up awaiting for the doors to open.

"Something seems fishy about it, definitely." Saito muttered after they had exited onto the platform and made their way to the stairs.

"We have the second highest clearance." Lan stated telepathically.

"Fourth highest clearance actually." Saito corrected, "Remember first is the chief, his assistant, then Mr. Famous and dad, and then us and Chaud."

"Well I say we check the reports then." Lan demanded before adding, "If there are any."

The rest of the walk to the facility known as Net Police Headquarters was spent in silence as they tried to weave past the crowds attempting to stick together. When they did get separated they always managed to get back together. It was really weird to see the streets so crowded on a Saturday this early, but then again there were some businesses that had early shifts on Saturdays.

Fifteen minutes later they found themselves standing in front of DenTech's Net Police Headquarters building. They would have gone through the side door of the building, but that required high security clearance which Saito didn't have. Lan pushed open the door mostly citizens and low clearance employees used, flashed his identification tag to the lady at the front desk and indicated that Saito was okay to follow him.

"Stairs or elevator?" Lan questioned telepathically.

"You know people are gonna stare at us if we keep speaking like this." Saito implied before he answered, "Elevator."

Lan proceed to happily push the up button that would summon the elevator. A few seconds later a ding sounded off and the elevator doors swished open unleashing the late shift staff, none knew Lan so they all gave the two teens questioning glances as they piled out of the elevator. Lan gave his brother a quick shrug before entering the elevator and pressing a button marked 18. Overall the building had twenty floors, not including the three basements. Lan had never been to the basement so he had no clue as to what secrets they held, however he knew the 18th floor very well. It was the floor for those part of the Net Savior Force or worked at least alongside of them.

Both Chaud and Lan had their own cubicles on this floor due to their level of clearance and their job. Lan mostly used his cubicle to hide his case reports and would later beg or trick Chaud into doing them, but as of late Lan had to do them himself since Chaud and him had been getting different cases to deal with. Chaud had been getting his mostly from the Chief, while Lan still received his via Mr. Famous phone call. The cubicles were set up with one state-of-the-art computer, landline corded phone, a computer suited chair, a medium sized trashcan, and a government issued calendar.

It was weird for Saito to actual view the cubicle he spent part of his Netnavi life in as a human. It was the same half trashed cubicle, but it just felt different. He sniggered a bit when Lan complained about the mess.

"I know, I know, I made the mess." Lan retorted playfully, "Now I just gotta remember my password."

Everyone was allowed to choose their own password for the computers supplied by the Net Police, at least Lan's floor was, however, Lan was used to having Megaman jack in and enter the code himself, but now Lan had to do it all manually. Saito quickly borrowed a chair and sat just slightly behind his brother as he worked with the computer.  
Normally this floor was bustling with people no matter the time of day, but for some reason it was eerily devoid of the hustle and bustle. There were a couple of analysts working overtime, but other than that there was no one else. Not even the punctual Chaud Blaze and Protoman were around. He looked to the calendar and noticed it was behind, so he stood from his chair and changed it to the correct month and checked the date. No holidays of any sort were listed on the today's date.

"Maybe today's a special Net Police sanctioned holiday?" Lan suggested sensing Saito's worry telepathically, "Plus its Saturday."

Saito gave a sigh before taking his attention away from the calendar and bring it to the computer monitor.

"How's it going?" he asked taking his seat once more.

"Argh!" Lan growled, "I can't remember my password so it won't let me in."

Saito stood and gestured Lan aside as he said, "Here let me try."

Lan scooted his chair over a few feet and watched as Saito reached for the keyboard and suddenly sparks flew out and latched onto his hand while on the screen it showed a password being typed in and a window flashed with the words "Access Granted". Lan's jaw dropped as did Saito's after he quickly drew back his tingling hand.

"What the hell was that?" Lan bellowed, his voice went a little high as he shook his hand to rid himself of the tingling. It hurt, but not as greatly as Saito's own hand.

Saito looked at his brother and then at his hand. There were no marks to act as evidence to the event, but the tingling continued for a moment. He back away from the computer and its components still shocked.

"That was weird." Saito said after a moment, "It read my mind."

"I know." Lan said astonished as much as his own brother, "You were thinking about what the password could be."

They were both silent for a minute and then Saito spoke, "I wonder will it do it again?"

"What?" Lan exclaimed as he leapt out of his chair and tried to pull his brother back from the keyboard, but he wasn't fast enough as he heard his brother think, "Case Files." and the keyboard shot out sparks to his outreached hand and immediately brought up a window with it titled Newest Case Files.

"Are you insane?" Lan demanded in a hushed tone.

He didn't want to gain unwanted attention, but he wanted his twin to understand his severe worry.

"Calm down, sheesh, it doesn't even hurt." Saito told his brother, "It just tingles and it's getting us farther into our research too."

Lan sighed and smacked his forehead, dragging his hand down over his face dramatically. Saito just rolled his eyes and shook his head at his brother's silliness.

"C'mon," Saito begged, "What do you think the accident report would be listed as?"

"I don't know exactly. Try think about the events of the accident." Lan suggested folding his arms while frowning slightly.

"I don't have any real memories of it." Saito informed his brother with a bit of sadness that he couldn't share that memory exactly, "I've only seen yours."

"Okay, but how are supposed to tell the computer that?" Lan grumbled as he threw his hands in the air.

"Try thinking hard about it and maybe it will connect the information telepathically?" Saito suggested hoping it might work.

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Lan huffed as he scrunched his eyes closed and tried to think of the accident.

Saito tried to focus on linking Lan's memories to his own mind as he reached forward and the sparks flew out of the keyboard once more. Unfortunately nothing seemed to happen so Saito withdrew his hand ceasing the sparks.

"It's not working." He muttered as he tried to think of another way, "Wait! Here we'll try it again except this time touch my shoulder as you think about it."

Lan gave his brother an eyebrow raise as he rested his hand upon his shoulder and tugged at his memories once more. Saito reached for the keyboard and the same freaky event happened this time it worked the computer pulled up another window actually two windows. Lan retracted his hand quickly after Saito gasped with satisfaction to cradle his head as it throbbed. Saito turned to beam at Lan, but his face fell when he saw his brother gripping his head.

"Are you okay?" Saito asked concern clearly in his tone.

"Yeah, phew, that was….well, a rush." Lan said rubbing his temples, "I'll be fine. What's it asking us now?"

"It says, Proper Clearance Needed." Saito stated as he read the text, "But we should have clearance, I mean it involves us, right?"

Lan thought for a moment, but when he went to suggest it verbally his brother was already working on it.

"What happened to speaking verbally?" Lan teased.

"We're burning good daylight." Saito said unprovoked by his brother's tease, "Plus you're impatience is starting to rub off on me."

A few minutes passed by before Saito withdrew his hand from the keyboard and on the screen a several document windows popped open. Saito wiped his forehead as he sat down in his chair.

"We better get lunch before we go visit dad." He added as he leaned back in the chair.  
Lan rolled his chair forward and began to read the information the report files contained.

He frowned as he finished reading a couple of them. Saito noticed his expression and probed Lan for answers.

"What's wrong?" he asked leaning forward to read the screen.

"These reports from the analysts that were working with dad," Lan began not taking his eyes off the screen, "It says here that they couldn't properly trace the enemy Netnavi's residual code back to its creator and instead they got sent to a webpage that had only a message repeated across it. Blood will reign. Apparently it also had your picture and mine from our Net Police profiles. Well you as Megaman at least."  
Lan slid his chair back a bit so Saito could see it more close up. Saito grabbed the mouse without having sparks fly up at his hand and began to scroll through the other reports.

"Do you think we could get a copy of these?" Lan asked suggestively.

"Nope, they'll easily trace it to us." Saito replied at first and then a smirk curled on to his face, "Unless I try my new trick."

He had his hand hover over the keyboard once more and asked, "Could you send these files to this address without leaving a trace."

A minute later a message popped up saying, "Files sent successfully."

"Yes!" Lan cheered quietly feeling very triumphant, "Are you sure that not even the great Megaman could trace those files?"

"Quite possibly." He chuckled.

Lan stifled a snicker as he began to enter the shutdown prompt and Saito returned his chair to its cubicle.

"C'mon let's go get lunch and then we'll head for the Science Labs." Lan suggested pushing his chair in and heading for the elevator.

** Chapter 7 END**

_I was so suprised to see that this chapter was five pages long. I wanted to write more with it, but I figured it ended perfectly with them going to the elevators. At one point I wanted someone to discover them, but naw. I thought this chapter was gonna take the longest to write, but I was wrong happily wrong. Everything in this entire chapter didn't come from my notebook at all. In fact this never happened so even I'm intrigued to see where this goes. I'm with you readers I can't wait for the next chapter._


	8. Chapter 8

** Chapter 8: Brotherhood**

Since the restaurant run by the old World Three gang didn't reside in the same district as the one Lan and Saito were in, they would have to eat elsewhere.

"I'm starved." Lan stated as they walked around an area of the district that was nothing, but food courts and a few fancy restaurants, "There should be a curry place around here somewhere."

A few times when Lan was working on certain cases he couldn't exactly run to the Maha Ichiban for curry, so he would have to either call for a delivery or eat at a place close by. He always choose the latter because Dekao was the only one of them who could enter the building and he would either mess up the food or one time he got lost so he ate it, they weren't exactly wanted criminals, but they didn't want the off chance of someone recognizing them. Plus ordering out cost extra and Lan decided to save himself the trouble and money to find cheaper and easier meals.

"I know I've said this plenty of times, but you are so obsessed with curry that it worries me." Saito implied jokingly.

"How can you say that, Saito, when you have never had curry?" Lan demanded as he surveyed the signs and food listings, "Ah, there's the place!"

Lan pointed over to a small time diner with curry as its specialty. He gave Saito a smug smile as he strolled towards the door with one hand beckoning for his brother to follow. Saito heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes as he followed his goofy brother into the diner. As Megaman he often went with Lan to these meals unless the case called for him to stay put and analyze a bunch of data or review reports while Lan took a break. It was a rarity though when Lan did leave him and normally for a very short amount of time. Solving netcrimes was their duty, but to Lan feeding himself curry was his only duty it seemed some days.

Saito smiled inwardly at this thought. That was back when Lan was younger and less mature about his job as a Net Savior; however, Lan had matured quite a bit. Now he took his enemies a little more seriously, he was less cocky about being called a Net Savior, but he hadn't grown that much. He still thought of food as much as netbattling and he was still a little tardy.

"Quit dilly dallying will you?" Lan interrupted his brother's reminisce as he tugged on his sleeve pulling him forward, "C'mon I found us a table."

"More like a booth." Saito muttered under his breath as they took their seats and a waitress came to them passing out menus.

Saito had ate many different meals every night since his revival, but nothing on the menu looked familiar so he was hesitant when the waitress returned for a third time to ask him if he was ready to order.

"Uhhhhhhh…." Saito uttered as he was a little flustered by the array of choices and scared of the waitress's thinning patience.

Thankfully Lan was able to come through a cut in, "He'll have the same as me."  
The waitress gave a wispy smile as she took the menu from Saito and went to the cook to tell the order.

"Jeez take forever why don'tcha?" Lan mumbled telepathically, "I thought she was gonna go off on you that time!"

"I know. Sorry." Saito said keeping his eye averted to the tabletop, "It's just my first time is all. Well as a human that is."

"At least we didn't go to the buffet place the chief took me too once." Lan stated aloud so the other people around them would think they weren't weird, "Plenty of food choices, but it all mostly tasted like cardboard."

"That was when he got his first promotion and when we first visited the undernet." Saito added aloud too, "Boy that was a hilarious."

For the rest of the time they spent in the diner it was said by others that the two spent the whole time thinking back to the past; however this was not the case.  
In fact the twins had planned to fake a spoken conversation while the real one was continued telepathically.

"I hate to say it," Lan said telephathically, "but I don't think we should tell dad of our findings."

"What findings should we not tell him about?" Saito replied questioningly.

"The reports we didn't have clearance for obviously." Lan responded, "There might be something he doesn't want us to know or maybe he doesn't know that we can read the reports."

"True, but how are gonna tell him how we discovered what I can do?" Saito shot back worriedly.

"Don't worry I have a backup story for that already. Besides we could let him know that we are going to go to do research at the headquarters after we talk to him and see his reaction." Lan explained feeling guilty that he had to trick his father, but they weren't sure what was going on and if he was involved.

"Do you think they are trying to cover it up?" Saito wondered, "Only Maylu really knew where we were during that time."

"Well we are their greatest asset, so why spill the beans that your prized beagle is having a malfunction before a dog show?" Lan stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "Though, the bad guys did make an entrance, but we took care of them."

"I think they are all trying to hide something from us and I don't think it's a small problem." Saito indicated as he rubbed his chin, "Let's hurry up and eat before too long. It's time we got some answers."

Saito very much enjoyed his plate of spicy curry, which is what Lan's order was. Their tummies were satisfied, their energy replenished, and their worries had grown.

Unfortunately security at the Science labs was tighter than the Net Police's security since very important experiments went on and most of the world's greatest inventions were born here. It made sense that they would have more security around the facilities.  
Lan went up to the man in the front desk and showed him his Net Savior identification card and explained that he was Yuuchiro Hikari's son as was Saito. The man looked to both Saito and Lan as he called up Dr. Hikari, who after the phone call came to the front desk to escort them both to his laboratory within the facility. It was standard protocol that visitors and guest were to be escorted by either security or the person they were visiting. The man at the front desk had taken over for another lady on maternity leave, who knew Lan very well, since he didn't know Lan, much less Saito, he went by the rules.

"Lan, Saito!" Dr. Hikari said a little surprised still that his sons were visiting him, "Come on back to the lab, I just got to finish a few things and then we can talk."

He ushered them on past the door and down a long hallway that lead to an elevator. The elevator would then descend down to its first basement which was just a mess of hallways that connected to the other buildings dubbed as parts of the Science labs. Their father's own laboratory was in the building farthest from where they were currently.

The first building that hung a little outside the gates was where visitors had to check in as did all the scientists and investors, but they had a different check in desk. After that were two building side by side with space for the supply trucks to pass through. Those two building were where supplies were stored as well as documents and other such items. The one next to it was the research building in which all the documents in building two were converted to digital documents and records. The next two building afterward were slightly smaller in sized due to a lot of remodeling. The fourth building is where younger scientists and the mediocre ones worked. The others like Dr. Hikari worked in the fifth building with his subordinates. This is where most his experiments took place and all his inventions were first fruited. The building was most noted for all its remodeling since it was targeted the most by the bad guys.

Not much had changed since the building's last remodeling was after the battle with Cache. That battle wasn't very damaging, but it was just for precautions. Plus Mr. Famous wanted a new satellite dish to for directing dimensional areas. Also this time they added a new security system if the worst should happen ever again.

Finally they made it to their father's main laboratory. It was a fairly large room with giant monitors and a huge control panel as well as many other devices. Lan and Saito planted themselves on one of the sofas Dr. Hikari had in there for sitting and napping on. For now one was being sat upon as the boys watched their father work.

"What are you working on now?" Lan inquired of his father, "Another version of a PET?"  
Yuuchiro continued to punch buttons and formulate coding as he answered with a cheery, "Something like that, almost done here."

A few moments passed by and then Yuuchiro heaved a heavy sigh indicating he wasn't making progress. It was definitely time for a break so he sat himself down in the sofa opposing the one his sons were sitting on.

"So what brings you two here?" Yuuchiro asks as he relaxes smiling as he is.  
Lan looked to Saito and then face his father.

"Dad, we were wondering, is there a way now for Saito to be both Megaman and Saito?" Lan asked a little worried of the answer.

Yuuchiro's smile faded as he looked into both his son's eyes, "What do you mean?"

"It's been over a month since there has been any enemy attack. How are we going to win again if there's no ultimate Netnavi to protect us?" Lan inquired further.

"Saito are you worried about this too?" Yuuchiro asked turning to look at his other son.

"Yes." Saito replied his face determined.

"Well, not really." Yuuchiro stated finally, "Mr. Famous and I looked into that possibility a few weeks ago. We did some extensive research into the event of your revival."

"Did you find anything else out besides there being excess energy." Saito wondered aloud.

Yuuchiro removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose as he replied, "Well actually, Mr. Famous researched that part and realized that once again we were wrong in our conclusion. Lan I haven't been able to gather the courage to ask you, but…."

He paused for a while as he wiped his glasses and replaced them on to his face.

"What is it dad? What do you need me to do?" Lan questioned his father worriedly.

Yuuchiro drew in a breath before he went on, "Lan, I need to research your scar you received on your back. All our research seems to gap around trying to figure out how you got it. Finding that out might help get our research back on its legs."

"I'll do it." Lan said standing up from the sofa his stature determined and fierce.

"Thank you Lan." Yuuchiro praised his son as his face warmed to a simple smile.

About half an hour later Saito was standing in the observational room for the scan tables used many times before by Lan, Chaud, Megaman and even Protoman. The door in the room for the scan tables slid open to allow Lan to walk in wearing a white robe as he stepped near one of the scan tables the intercom clicked on and Yuuchiro's voice sounded through.

"Now Lan I need you to lie on your belly when we do this, alright?" Yuuchiro instructed through the intercom, "Now just relax."  
Lan gave a nod to his father and telepathically said to his brother, "Well here goes nothing."

He turned his back to the observation window as he slipped off his robe showing off the huge scar line that started at the top of his right shoulder and ended just a little bit above his hip joint. Saito gasped at seeing the scar for the first time and quickly lowered his eyes.

"Don't feel guilty." Lan thought to Saito, "I would have a million scar if it meant you could become human."

Saito couldn't help, but smile at his brother's words as he returned to watch Lan strode around the room in only his boxers. Eventually his brother was enclosed in the transparent scan table and awaited for the process to begin.

Yuuchiro spoke once more through the intercom system, "Lan, should you start to feel weird that panic button is still workable."

"Okay." Lan answered, "I'm ready."

Yuuchiro turned around to his assistant and commanded him to begin the scan. The assistant complied and began to tap all sorts of buttons on his console he was operating. Across the monitor screen were many different windows and showing different kinds of information. One showed an outline of Lan's body and was labeled Lan Hikari at the window top. Originally the window was a blue background with Lan's outline being yellow, but after the first scan it became a green background with an orange outline. The machine scanned again and the colors changed once more. More windows popped up on the screen and soon Dr. Hikari was tapping away at his own console staring at his own monitor. Soon a few windows opened up on his, but as soon as they did he exited out of them instantly. Saito wanted to ask why, but decided against it and returned his gaze to his brother laying on the table with his head turned away from the observation window.

Several scans later Yuuchiro spoke again to Lan, "We're almost done, just at least three more scan."

"Okay." Lan grunted his voice a little strained causing Saito to worry a little.

"Are you really okay?" Saito asked telepathically, but no answer came and he felt like there was a wall between their psychic connections.

As the second to last scan began an alarm sounded and the monitors flashed red warning messages across the screen. Saito looked back from the monitors to his brother who was slightly writhing in pain as the scan was stopped halfway and the scan table began to crackle with electricity.

"Dad!" Saito exclaimed desperately as he watched his brother and oddly not feeling anything from Lan.

"I'm trying!" Dr. Hikari half shouted at his son as both he and his assistant worked furiously and then he yelled at the assistant, "Go get Mr. Famous!"

The assistant didn't hesitate and ran out of the room and down the hallway shouting repeatedly, "MR. FAMOUS!"

Saito edged his way to the door wanting to run into the other room and free Lan. He was almost there before his father stopped him.

"Don't go in there!" He demanded, "There's too much electricity running loose."

Saito stopped and had to practically leap out of the way as Mr. Famous flew in and began to work the other console the assistant had been working at. For a few minutes they seemed to be accomplishing something, however it wasn't enough. A couple of minutes of going downhill and Saito couldn't stand around anymore. He had to step in, so he stood closer to his father's console and reached out a hand. Instantly a surge of electricity shot up from the console to his hand, his father surprised by the event tried to push Saito away from the console.

"Don't dad, I can save him!" Saito exclaimed sternly as he looked deep into his father's eyes.

Yuuchiro saw his son's expression and stepped away gesturing him closer to the console. Saito nodded and went closer to the control panel as he reached out with his other hand. It too was met with a surge of electricity and the monitor stopped flashing red after a moment.

Saito closed his eyes and thought, "Stop the electricity in the other room, please."  
Suddenly the computer went into overdrive as it flipped up windows and soon closed them too fast for anyone to read. Yuuchiro and Mr. Famous both stopped and stared in amazement as Saito commanded both consoles and whizzed his way through the computer system. As he worked the electrical surges in the other room soon began to die down and eventually it all stopped.

Saito opened his eyes as and peered over to the scan table his brother was laying on. The glass enclosing the scan table was all fogged up and there was still some cackling of electricity. Saito retracted his hands immediately to dash for the door and down the hall to the changing room that was connected to the scan room.

Meanwhile back in the observation room Dr. Hikari and Mr. Famous shook off their shock as Mr. Famous broke the silence between them.

"Do you think-" Mr. Famous started but was interrupted by Dr. Hikari, "No. I don't think it caused it, the readings were different."

Dr. Hikari paused for a moment to take a deep breath before walking over to the computer and trying to review what Saito had done and what could have caused the malfunction. He was calm and collective unlike Mr. Famous, who sat at his control panel still confused by everything.

Saito practically kicked the door open to the scan room as he went in shouting out his twin's name. His distress clear as he ran over to the foggy scan table and began to press buttons to get it to open so Lan could get out. When that didn't work he stuck out his hand and felt the surge of electricity fling itself at his hand. He then commanded the machine to open and it obeyed. Lots of the fog streamed out as the table ejected out from underneath the glass casing.

Lan was out cold, but it appeared just before he fainted that he had pressed the panic button since it was clearly broken or perhaps it had gotten damaged. Saito was more concerned about his twin's wellbeing. Lan laid face down and motionless on the table, Saito, fearing the worst nudged his brother shoulders and then he grew more anxious so he tried calling him telepathically. No answer or feeling that he received it at all came from Lan's end. Saito looked to his father from the other side of the glass hoping maybe he had something to say, but the window for the observation room was too fogged up for Saito to see. He returned his focus to his brother, who began to twitch and eventually opened his eyes.

"Wha…." Lan mumbled at first as he pushed himself up from the table and scratch his head as his brother stared at him weirdly, "Why you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry, but I think I freaked out dad." Saito said as he returned to his senses and tried to brush off his worry of earlier.

"LAN! SAITO!" Yuuchiro called as he burst through the door with a couple of medics right behind him he calmed down slightly when he saw that they both were fine.  
Tears welled up in his eyes as he embraced them both.

"You guys are giving me too many grey hairs." Yuuchiro joked happily as he waved away the medics, "Lan are you okay and Saito how were you able to do that?"

The boys looked at each other and smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of their heads. Yuuchiro couldn't help himself from laughing at their response. It was one of those moments when all his fears could be brushed aside and Yuuchiro felt he could truly laugh and smile. Like eating salt and vinegar potato chips, it's all bittersweet.

** Chapter 8 END**

_Well now I really hated typing all that Mr. Famous. I thought about changing it to his original Japanese name, but I think I kept it as Mr. Famous in an earlier chapter though. I know that it was Lan always called him in the English Dub instead of Famous. Famous has been in both the Anime, games, and good bit in the Manga. Last I remember seeing him in the Manga was after he got sent to the hospital from the Desertman attack and he was asking Serenade to protect Lan, Megaman, Chaud, and Protoman. I hated his personality in the Manga and also no offense to Ryo Takamisaki, but I think he took the storyline for a nose dive after the seventh volume. I like the Manga as a story of itself until the ending. Anyway Famous seemed like an idiot in the Manga and the whole part of the Desertman attack chapter made no real sense and I think there was actually more killing in that volume that wasn't made known. Don't get me wrong I like the Manga since it included more blood and until volume eight the art was epic. I'll stop ranting now. Anyway that last sentence above about the potato chips was reference to my favorite kind of flavor for chips. Its true about the flavor being bittersweet, but its also tangy. (Also keeps my roomates out of my chips, because they don't like the flavor XD)_


	9. Chapter 9

_ Ssssshhhhhhhhhh its a... _

** Chapter 9: Secret**

After Lan was checked by a few of the medics and okayed, he put back on his cloths and found himself sitting in an even more secure room than before. One of Dr. Hikari's specially made private room just for anything Dr. Hikari wanted. Although Dr. Hikari was going to use it to converse with his sons about the prior event that had taken place and Mr. Famous was there too, since he was a witness.

"So what happened with the scan table back there?" Lan asked first breaking the silence.

Dr. Hikari rubbed his chin feeling the prickle of hairs that needed to be shaved off as he thought of a way to hide the true fact from both his sons.

A moment later he finally spoke, "I believe it was a malfunction within the system due to last update. It seems it was forgotten to reload certain files and applications. I'm sorry I should have made sure before I used it."

"Well, I could have gone a lot worse if we didn't have Saito here." Lan stated throwing an arm around his twin's shoulder while beaming his goofy grin as Saito smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, thank goodness." Mr. Famous said his face stern, "How did you do that?"

"Well," Saito began sheepishly as he listened to Lan's instruction telepathically, "Lan and I were doing homework on his computer and when I went to touch the keyboard some sparks flew out of it. Lan pulled me away, but not before the computer practically did my homework for me. Also I not only can do it with computers, but other electrical devices. When the scan table wouldn't eject Lan, I had to use my new, um, ability."

"Amazing." Dr. Hikari murmured loud enough for everyone to hear, "I wonder what else you can do."

"Hey, dad," Lan asked a little reluctant since his father seemed to be deep in thought, "I was wondering if you maybe knew anything about the guys that attacked us?"

Yuuchiro was slightly caught off guard, but Mr. Famous stepped in to answer for him.

"We know only as much as you guys unfortunately." Mr. Famous stated feigning his dismay.

"Aw okay," Lan muttered and then decided to test their reaction by saying, "Saito and I guess we're off to the Net Police headquarters then to do research."

"That won't do you much good either." Dr. Hikari interjected quickly, "I've heard that not all the reports have been filed yet and I have yet to do mine. It's been a long day why don't you boys go home and rest up."

Lan and Saito glanced at each other and shrugged as they both stood up from their seats as Mr. Famous added, "I agree with Dr. Hikari. You both have been through a lot and it is probably better if we finish our research into how Saito got here and how he can….make computers and electrical devices do as he wills, before you go deep into researching the enemy."

"Right." Lan agreed halfheartedly, "Got to know our assets."

"Yeah, come on Lan let's go." Saito added slightly tugging at his brother's shirt sleeve, "See you later, Dad."

"Wait!" Yuuchiro called to his sons as he rushed up after them and handed Saito an envelope, "Give this to your mother for me and also I won't be coming home tonight."

"Oh. Okay." Lan mumbled as he pushed the door open and let Saito go past him, "Let us know when you have something."

"Will do." Yuuchiro exclaimed with a grin, "Bye boys."

After the door shut and the two adults waited until they were pretty sure the boys wouldn't be coming back in did they breathe a sigh of relief because by now they wouldn't be returning. Mr. Famous was the first to speak.

"Now I know the chief of Net Police just learned a few weeks ago about Lan's condition as have I." Mr. Famous started in, "It's going to become harder to keep it a secret from Lan himself much less Saito if he has that ability."

"I know the reports were all turned in and the Chief assured me that the boys couldn't read into them, but just in case I tried to leave out any part that would draw Lan to the attention of it himself. The chief has the real reports in paper stored away from prying eyes." Yuuchiro explained to Mr. Famous, "However I need to call someone."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Famous questioned, "Are there others who know too and didn't think to give the Chief a list?"

Yuuchiro flipped his hand around indicating he needed silence as he held the phone up to his ear listening for the sound of the other end being picked up.

"Hello?" said a young female voice from the other end.

"Maylu Sakarai?" Dr. Hikari inquired first to be sure it was Lan's girlfriend he was speaking to.

"This is her, who is this?" Maylu replied politely.

"It's Dr. Hikari calling." Yuuchiro chuckled, "Listen I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure anything." Maylu said unsure of what he might be asking of her.

"I need you to keep Lan occupied in some way for a couple of days." Yuuchiro explained, "Can you do that."

"Of course, now what do I need to keep him distracted from?" Maylu wondered.

"Well," Yuuchiro chuckled sheepishly as he explained, "He might learn about his condition soon than we are ready."

"Oh." Maylu said her voice sounding distant, "I'll do my best then, but what about Saito."  
Yuuchiro was stumped on that one.

"Roll doesn't know, but maybe I could convince her to talk with Saito." Maylu suggested unsure if it was a good idea.

"Well anything to make sure that they can have time to put certain things together." Yuuchiro said finally after a moment of deep thought and then he muttered, "Just between the humans."

After that he hung up the phone and turned his attention to Mr. Famous, who was slightly agitated, but kept his cool.

"I need to know who all knows." Mr. Famous demanded as he pushed a pencil and pad of paper towards Yuuchiro.

"Fine." Yuuchiro grumbled as he took the items and began to scribble down names as he spoke, "Besides Chief and you there is Maylu, Chaud, Protoman, and me. Roll, Maylu's Netnavi, doesn't know, nor Megaman and my wife, Haruka."

Mr. Famous looked over the list before he said, "Good, let's keep the list short to be sure that there are no slippery tongues."

Yuuchiro sighed harshly as he looked down at the floor, lost in his thoughts he began to flash back to the day after the accident.

"We need your report Dr. Hikari if we are to complete the investigation." The Chief explained as they stood in Dr. Hikari's office.

"I will soon." Yuuchiro informed the chief.

"It's well overdue. Now either you are either trying to obstruct our investigation or by that look on your face you have something to hide." The chief stated sternly as a warning to his friend.

Yuuchiro sat at his desk and stopped his typing once he realized he couldn't keep it a secret anymore. He looked down at the keyboard as he took his trembling hands away from it.

"You have it finished don't you?" the Chief murmured in realization his face expression was clearly shock, "You are hiding something from us. What is it?"

"Please." Yuuchiro begged as a tear streamed down his guilty face, "My sons can't read the real report there's a secret they cannot know for the sake of our existence."

"What do you mean?" the chief inquired further, "Who exactly cannot know?"

"Lan, he especially can't know it." Yuuchiro explained removing his glasses to wipe his face, "It's not just to protect the world, but to protect him the most."

"Dr. Hikari as the chief of the Net Police and as a friend I demand you explain to me what your son must never know." Chief Kifune begged moving closer to the desk his face concerned, "Lan is important to us all not just as a Net Savior, but he's a friend we all can count on and wish to keep counting on him. I promise you that I will do all in my power to help you protect him."

He shook himself from the memory and looked up to face Mr. Famous once more.

"Let's get down to business." Yuuchiro said determinedly as he strode out of the room.

Haruka was surprised to find the boys home so late, but nevertheless she had dinner at the ready and was surprised to be handed an envelope when Saito and Lan came in the door.

"It's from dad." Saito told her as he kicked off his shoes and was putting on the house slippers before continuing on in.

"Oh." She murmured as she held it for a second and then began to open it once the boys were down the hallway.

It was one of his silly love letters telling her that he missed her, but he was tied up at work once again and it would be a couple of days before they could see each other, although he did welcome her to come visit. She laughed quietly and hugged the letter tightly to her chest before heading upstairs and putting it away in a drawer of the nightstand on her side of the bed.

"Mom are you gonna come eat with us?" Saito asked up the staircase.

"Yes in a minute dear." She answered smiling warmly as she sat on the edge of the bed and then murmured to herself, "My dear Yuuchiro."

The next morning before either of the boys were up, the doorbell rang, since Haruka was already awake and ready for the day she answered it pleasantly.

"Oh good morning, Maylu." Haruka greeted the dye pink haired girl, "Are you here for cooking lessons?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Hikari." Maylu replied cheerily, "Nope, I'm here to bother Lan today."

"Ah I see." Haruka chuckled a bit as she pointed toward the stairway within the house, "They're still asleep, but go right ahead."

"Thank you Mrs. Hikari." Maylu said giving her a quick bow before setting down her purse and sprinting up the stairs.

She stifled a giggle as she peeked through the door spying Lan laying on bed, but Saito was missing so she figured that he must've made a bathroom run. Sneakily she opened the door wide enough for her to slip through and then crept to Lan's bedside. She couldn't decide whether to sneak up and scare him or since he was over enough, she could lie down beside him. She choose the latter choice and gently placed herself so she laid on his bed right close to him.

She watched his chest slowly move up and down as he breathed and his lips were slightly parted so he didn't snore and instead she could feel his warm breath on her. Every so often he would take a deep breath and then return to normal. She looked to his mess of brown locks with a smile before she reached to gently push a few back.

"You are so much more handsome without your bandana." She barely whispered.

She carefully played with the locks of his hair for a few minutes before she pushed them back and leaned in to give his cheek a small peck. After she did he moaned a little before turning over and throwing an arm around her and still totally clueless that she was with him. A second later he pulled her closer and mumbled her name muffled slightly.

"He he he, Lan you silly." She murmured just enough for him to hear her so he would wake.

He peeked through his eyes lazily not budging to release her from his embrace and mumbled to her, "How long have you been right here."

"Awhile, but not too long." She answered, "Good morning sleepy head."

"Ah these are the best mornings." He muttered happily as he hugged her tighter, "Sorry for being a jerk."

"You haven't been unless you want to be by refusing taking me out today and just be with your girlfriend?" she giggled as she tried to return the embrace, "I've been missing you."

"I know and yes we can go out today as you wish." He murmured in her ear, "Five more minutes though."

She held back some laughter at his request and then replied, "Okay, but only five."

"Deal." Lan managed before closing his eyes once more and allowed Maylu to slightly prop herself against his headboard so that he was hugging her belly and his head laid on his arm while slightly laying on her lap.

She stroked her hand through his hair and gingerly placed his locks in certain ways as though trying to give him a new hairstyle. She felt blissful as she sat there happily embraced by her lover and spending the morning with him. She hoped this would become the norm later on in life, but for now she took opportunity.

"Okay come on." She said after five minutes had passed, "My clothes are going to wrinkle."  
She tried to get up, but he had a tight grip on her.

She struggled for a moment and then she finally stumbled to the floor and pulled Lan out of the bed along with her.

"Ouch." They both muttered.

Maylu blushed once she realized the position they were in and when Lan realized it too his face went red almost. She also realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt as he unwound himself from the bed sheets and stood up. Plus she got full view of his scar and gasped at its size. He heard the gasp and looked behind him realizing she was staring at his scar.

"Oh, yeah that." He mumbled.

"You don't mind if I….." she asked trailing off for a moment.

"No go ahead." He said throwing the bed sheets in a mess onto the bed and stood up straight.

She got to her feet and reached out to it. Lightly she traced along its edges from the hip to the shoulder where Lan caught her hand and held it there.

"It doesn't hurt so don't worry about me being in any pain, okay?" he explained to her as he kept looking forward.

"Okay." She muttered as she felt him let go of her hand and pulled a white shirt over it.

She pulled her hand and stared at it for a while as he threw on some casual clothes different from his norm. Since it was early spring it was still chilly out so he had to wear his jeans and white shirt. He thought about throwing on his trademark orange jacket, but decided to wear the jacket Maylu had bought specially for him. It was thick jacket of the dark brown color and at night it looked black. He grabbed it and headed for the door stopping at the handle and turned to Maylu.

"Want some breakfast?" he asked grinning goofily at the red head.

She could help herself after he grinned like that so she smiled widely as she replied, "Definitely."

Together they went down the stairs hand in hand like a dream come true for Maylu. She wished for the day of him and her finally being together to come faster than before. However she felt it best to not wish so hard for it so she might enjoy the time she had as of now. Dr. Hikari may have asked her to distract him, but she felt more distracted by Lan than anything.

** Chapter 9 END**


	10. Chapter 10

** Chapter 10: Whispers in the Dark**

"Fantom." a voice called from a dark purple PET in what looked to be a dark hotel room, "Hey Fantom, wake up!"

A groan emerged from the bed as the presumed 'Fantom' flung off the heavy covers and sat up rubbing his eyes. He yawned and stretched his upper torso before picking up the purple PET from its charging station on the nightstand. He sleepily stared at the navi occupying the PET screen.

"What is it Shino?" Fantom asked the navi his tone irritated.

"I have a message from the Doctor, he wants you to come back to headquarters for a bit." Shino informed his netop.

"So soon?" Fantom replied his sleepiness had worn off and now he was completely alert.

"Yes. It seems he has another mission for us." Shino explained darkly.

Fantom stuck the PET back on its docking station as he dressed himself and gathered his things together. Once he packed away his things into his rucksack and his PET he went to the front desk and returned his room key. He smirked as he stepped out onto the street he knew what the mission the next step would be now that the reports were complete.

A couple of hours later deep within the Blud organization Japanese base, Fantom stood several feet away from the desk of the his boss, the Doctor.

"I have returned." Fantom said breaking up the silence in the room, "What is my next mission?"

The doctor looked up from the papers on his desk and sneered at the boy, "Your recon mission went well. Especially when you hacked into Lan Hikari's IP address and stole those reports. The information within most of them were altered it appears."

"Sorry sir, I thought they would prove useful." Fantom said bowing his head respectfully.

"No need our best analysts were able to discover a code within the files that allowed us to see the truth. My what secrets they contained." The doctor chuckled darkly, "Ironic that their greatest hero is also their worst enemy from the past don't you think so?"

"I wouldn't really know sir since I couldn't understand the files myself." Fantom replied lifting his head his expression puzzled.

"You'll understand soon enough, which brings me to your new mission." The doctor said smirking at himself more that at anyone else, "I want you to bring me, no capture Lan Hikari alive."

Fantom was slightly taken aback at this request, but he was willing to do it.

"Why just him?" Fantom asked, "What about his brother?"

"Judging from your intel, Saito or rather Megaman, poses no threat or value at this point. Lan however is the real prize. You will know soon enough." The doctor explained humbly. "Once again Ms. Mailo will give you the tools you will need for this mission. You may leave."

Fantom bowed once more only deeply this time before he left the room. The doctor sneered once more as he shifted some papers around on his desk. From beneath one of the papers the doctor pulled out a very pixelated satellite picture of a huge figure overshadowing a group of buildings, he flipped over the photo which on the back of it was scribbled one word, Cache. Instantly his face curled into a wicked grin as he read the word and devious thoughts developed in his mind.

"Blud will reign."

"Come on Maylu!" Lan called to dyed pink haired girl still standing in his house, "We're going to miss the train!"

"I know just a minute!" Maylu replied before turning around to face Saito and handed him her pink PET, "Saito, I know this is sudden, but you and Roll need to have some time to talk. Roll and you need to solve some issues that can't be put off any longer."

"But-" Saito tried to interject, but Maylu cut him off before he could, "No buts."

She then bent down to pick up her purse and her light gray sleeveless hoodie before bolting out the door without another word.

"What was that all about?" Lan asked as they strode down to the station.

"Oh, nothing." Maylu replied with a slight giggle before she grabbed onto Lan's arm and entangled her hand into his, "So where are we going to go to first?"

Lan's cheeks flushed red as he looked into her amber eyes with his gray brown ones.

"Well I hear that the renovations on the sea tower have been completed and they had their grand reopening a couple of weeks ago. I figured that would be the perfect place to go since last time we kind of got gipped due to the darkloids." Lan explained as they walked.

"Oh yeah." Maylu thought aloud as she reminisced about it, "Well there isn't any darkloids this time."

"Yeah." Lan murmured with a smile.

About an hour later Lan and Maylu were standing on the first floor of the sea tower surveying the booths around them. They walked around exploring the different booths. Two floors later they ran into a familiar face.

"Oh my gosh! Lan it can't be you?" a voice said before slinging an arm around his neck and giving the teenager a rough hair ruffle.

"Hey, take it easy there." Lan managed to say as he struggled out of the death grip and turned to face his hair ruffle fiend, "Tamako?"

"Heh, the one and only." Tamako stated with a gleam in her eye.

Lan and the others hadn't heard much from Tamako since the defeat of Dr. Regal. Tamako had grown slightly taller, her hair a tad shorter, but her bangs had lengthened a little. She still wore her store uniform outfit and had the same attitude about her. The only other change was that she had become quite the young woman of twenty-two years of age.

"Hey there Maylu, how's it going?" Tamako asked turning her attention to the younger female beaming the same old cocky grin as always.

"Fine, but how are you and your shop doing?" Maylu replied giving Tamako her gentle smile.

"Sales are going great especially now that I'm thinking of having another store somewhere else. I'm not sure exactly where I want it, but I got all the time in the world." Tamako explained happily at first, but then she got agitated as she continued, "I was doing fine until some jerk came to my booth and was a little rude."

"Huh? What did he do?" Maylu inquired further.

"Well," Tamako began, "at first I had a group of people anxious to buy my souvenirs, but when he came to my booth they all scattered to the wind like flies because of his scary presences. Although that wasn't the worst of it, thinking he was potential buyer I went sale savvy on him until I noticed his PET. Of course I could resist a battle so I challenged him."

"So what happened did he accept?" Lan wondered aloud as Tamako paused to gather her breath.

"NO!" Tamako growled with infuriation making Lan take a step back, "He refused because he didn't think I was worth his time."

"That almost sounds like Chaud." Maylu side whispered to Lan as Tamako began to spew insults about the stranger.

"Except Chaud doesn't have a scary presence, he's more like well like how people are around royalty." Lan side whispered back.

"There he is!" Tamako exclaimed pointing to behind Maylu and Lan.

Lan and Maylu both turned around and tried to look for the person she was pointing to.  
"Hey, Lan." Another voice said.

Lan looked in the direction of where the voice came from and spied his old Amerope friend.

"Raoul?" Lan asked.

"Yep it's me." Raoul said with a chuckle.

Lan had forgotten that Raoul had sent him an email saying he would be visiting Japan to complete his training as a Net Savior. Couple of months before Raoul had to leave Japan to go settle some matters back in his home town. Now he was back and the only thing different about him was how old he was. Raoul was now twenty-four years old and his netbattler skills were still top notch.

"So you up to netbattle for old times sake?" Raoul inquired pulling out his PET.  
Lan laughed nervously a bit.

"Sorry Raoul, but Megaman is back at the Science Labs for today." Lan lied hoping Raoul would fall for it.

"Oh, that's weird. I thought you never went anywhere without your PET." Raoul said clearly surprised.

Lan was about to say something else, but Tamako interrupted.

"YOU!" Tamako roared her eyes practically on fire with rage.

Raoul looked to Tamako and sighed heavily while both Lan and Maylu stood off to the side slightly embarrassed that they didn't realize it could have been Raoul.

"I won't netbattle you." Raoul stated to the fuming Tamako, "Nothing in your store interests me even if I were to win so I see no point in it."

That only made Tamako only much angrier.

"Grrrrrrrrr. Why don't you put your pride where your mouth is and netbattle right now so I can make you eat your words!" Tamako raged as she pulled out her PET.

"I didn't come here to netbattle." Raoul said coolly as he folded his arms and sternly glared at Tamako.

"Fine then." Tamako retorted a bit more calmly and then with a smirk she spoke again, "Just keep your scary face away from my booth you're making business drop."

Raoul instantly took offense to that as he quickly growled, "So you're one of those people. I guess I must teach you a lesson."

Tamako wore her cocky grin widely as she realized that her insult had worked.

"It's on!" Tamako shouted striking a pose, "Jack in Heavymetalman, Power up!"

Raoul nodded to Lan and Maylu before he said, "Go on with your date. Now jack in Thunderman, Power up!"

Lan nodded back while Maylu gave them both good luck before they took off.

Meanwhile back at the Hikari residence Saito was having troubles of his own with confronting Roll.

Before he hadn't given their situation much thought in fact he found himself more occupied with other things. Now the problem was right there in his room and he couldn't avoid it anymore. Roll fidgeted slightly on the screen she herself was unsure on how to start the conversation.

"Mega-Saito I-I-uh…" Roll struggled to speak for she was lost on what to say.

"It's okay Roll." Saito said stopping her and making her blush a bit, "I understand I'm human now, I'm not Megaman anymore….."

"No that's not what I was meaning to say!" Roll retorted snapping out of her confusion, "Megaman I still have feelings for you no matter what, but the fact remains that we won't or rather aren't going to see each other as much and our relationship could never happen now."

"I see." Saito uttered as he looked downward allowing his bangs to cover his eyes from Roll's view.

"I hate for it to be this way, but Mega it just isn't possible. We will never happen for us. I'm sorry, yet I must be realistic about this." Roll stated her eyes tearing up and she quickly tried to wipe them away.

"I love you." Saito whispered his fists clenched and his whole body was shaking as he tried to hold back the tears himself, "Roll I should have told you, I love you."

"Oh Mega." Roll sobbed for she couldn't restrain the tears anymore, "Me too."  
Saito quickly rubbed away his tears and tried to sound normal when Haruka called him downstairs to the phone.

"Coming!" He answered doing his best and hoped it was believable.

With Maylu's pink PET in hand her went downstairs and took the phone from his mother, who indicated that it was his father before he put the receiver to his ear.

"Saito, it's me, Dad. Listen I need you to come to the Science labs for a bit. I finished some research and want to borrow you for an experiment." Yuuchiro explained from the other end, "Also don't worry about security too much this time. I warned them that you were coming."

Saito chuckled a bit before he said, "Okay Dad. I'll be there as soon as possible."

After hanging up the phone and grabbing a coat, Saito said his goodbyes to his mother and took off down the street forgetting he still had Roll's PET in his hand. Only when her hologram appeared on his shoulder asking questions did her realize it.

"Experiment?" Roll inquired.

"Ah! Roll I forgot you were still with me." Saito said apologetically as he smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay, so what is it your father has come up with now?" Roll replied with a gentle smile.

Saito slowed to a jog as he explained, "Dad's been research on how I got here and well I can trust you to keep a secret?"

"Of course, silly." Roll giggled.

"Good." Saito continued as he rounded a corner, "Well Lan and I discovered that I have an unnatural ability to control electronic devices."

"What?!" Roll gasped almost making Saito turn the volume off on the PET.

"Oi! Keep your voice down." Saito warned before he continued to explain, "Yesterday Lan and I went to go see our dad about it and possibly find a way for me to go back and forth between the real world and the cyber world."

"Sounds like your Net Savior instincts are kicking in." Roll teased into Saito's ear before the PET phone began to ring and she picked it up, "Hello?"

"Roll could you get Rush to come to the Science labs. I need to borrow him for a while." Dr. Hikari's voice burst through the PET speakers.

Roll tried to think where Rush was and was just about to say she didn't know where he was until she remembered last night when he returned to her PET and fell asleep in there. He hadn't moved from the PET at all.

"He's on his way Dr. Hikari." Roll informed the older man with a smile before he hung up with a thank you.

"Boy he's gonna be surprised." Saito joked as he slowed down to a brisk walk as he approached the train station.

About thirty minutes later Saito was standing outside the door to the check in building. He took a deep breath and strode in the door towards the front desk. As Saito approached it the man from last stood up and bowed slightly to Saito and then pointed to the door. Confused and puzzled at the man's change of behavior Saito went to the door to be greeted by none other than Mr. Famous.

"Glad you could come so quickly, Saito." Mr. Famous said as they walked down the hallway to the elevators.

"How did you get ahold of Maylu's PET?" Mr. Famous inquired as he took notice of the pink colored PET Saito still held in his hand.

Saito chuckled nervously before he explained, "Well she kind of left it with me when Lan and her went out on a date."

"I'm guessing you also have Rush in there. Am I correct to think so Roll?" Mr. Famous continued as he pushed the down button to summon the elevator.

A hologram of Roll appeared once more on Saito's shoulder. She nodded to Mr. Famous with a warm smile making Mr. Famous return the smile.

"Good. We need him here in the real world though. Could you convince him to come?" Mr. Famous informed the pink Navi.

"I'll get him right away, sir!" Roll chimed as her hologram dissipated to indicate she had gone back into the PET.

It was after they got off the elevator that a hole in the floor appeared and Mr. Famous almost fell into it, that the brown color schemed dog appeared from.

"Hey, Rush." Saito said in greetings to the dog who had helped him out a lot.

Rush looked at Saito questioningly since he wasn't there when the big discovery was made. Roll's hologram appeared once more on Saito shoulder and smacked her forehead once she realized what she had forgotten to do.

"Rush this is Saito. This is Lan's twin brother, who also used to be Megaman." Roll told the dog.

Rush scratched his head in thought as he stared at Saito wondering if the pink Netnavi was trying to pull his leg or she was being serious. He stepped closer to Saito and decided to sniff the strange human. After the first sniff he leapt back in surprise as he realized it was true. He was totally baffled at the discovery.

"Come on you two, Dr. Hikari is waiting." Mr. Famous said as he beckoned the boy and dog to follow.

"Hi dad!" Saito called to his father as they entered the special laboratory.

"Welcome Saito, Rush." Yuuchiro said in greeting them back as he walked away from the console he was working with.

"So why do you need Rush and I?" Saito decided to ask.

"Allow me to explain." Yuuchiro said as he turned back to the console and Saito noticed the new dimensional area chamber, "I have recreated a dimensional area within that chamber. I want Rush to turn into his special synchro chip form and I want you to use your ability to see if you can create a hole for you to jump through using the Rush synchro chip. Think you both can do it?"

Saito nodded while Rush barked happily in reply. Yuuchiro then pointed them to the chamber and began to shut it down so they could enter it. Rush gave another bark before he leapt into the air and transformed into his special chip form. Saito quickly caught the chip before it landed on the ground out of courtesy to Rush. Yuuchiro then fired up the dimensional area generator and watched as the chamber became psychedelic. Saito awaited Yuuchiro's command patiently wondering if it would work or if it did would he be able to come back.

"Okay, son go for it!" Yuuchiro called to Saito with a wave.

Saito gave a determined smile to his father before he began to manipulate the chip.  
"Work for me like you work for Rush." Saito thought as sparks emitted from the chip and connected to his hand.  
Saito scrunched his eyes closed and prayed for it to work as he commanded it silently. He could feel the chip turn hot as the sparks flew. A few seconds later he opened his eyes to disappointment as he still stood in the chamber as a human.

"Nothing is happening." Saito stated as he looked around.

Yuuchiro scratched his head in wonder as Mr. Famous rubbed his own chin. The room was silent for a good few minutes as the two scientists thought.

Finally Mr. Famous spoke, "Do we still have Lan's old PET?"

"Only the programing and files were saved from the accident. The PET itself was beyond repair." Yuuchiro informed Mr. Famous.

"Well let's try loading the programing and files into another PET then and have Saito try doing it while initiating cross fusion." Mr. Famous suggested hopeful.

"That is worth a try." Yuuchiro said walking over to a desk and opening it to pull out a strange looking device.

"What's that?" Saito dared to ask as he watched his father disengage the dimensional area and proceed towards Saito.

"I was working on a new PET for Lan, but it has no Netnavi since I figured he would only want Megaman to be his Netnavi." Yuuchiro explained as he handed the device to Saito.

Saito studied the device carefully as he flipped it around in his hands to get a feel for it. Also it was weird standing outside the PET and looking at it from a human perspective. The device was the shape of the Progress PET, but it was smoothed out a lot more and had a grip bar coming out of the side.

"You can push in the grip bar and attach it to your wrist." Yuuchiro explain as he took back the strange looking PET and demonstrated its capabilities to Saito, "This is just a prototype I've been experimenting with just recently and especially after the accident."

"Oh neat." Saito said in compliments to his father before he returned to the chamber and they decided to try once more.

Yuuchiro fired up the dimensional area once more and nodded to his son while he prayed in his head.

"Please let this work as we need it."

Saito held the grip bar tightly as he held it up and proceed to slot in the chip.

"Rush synchro chip in! Download!" Saito shouted as he slid the chip into the battlechip slot and then used his ability to manipulate it, "Please work."

He scrunched his eyes shut as he felt his whole body get really warm to the point he thought he was going to melt. He felt something cold suddenly slide over his body as if to encase him and he couldn't feel the sparks from the PET tickling his hand.

"IT WORKED! THANK GOD IT WORKED!" Yuuchiro shouted in joy causing Saito to open his eyes and look around.

"It did?" Saito said in confusion, "I'm still here though."

It wasn't until he looked down at his feet that he recognized the blue colored boots and gloves covering his hands. Yuuchiro brought over a mirror for Saito to look at. He looked like the old Megaman, but his hair was still brown instead of the dark navy blue Megaman originally had.

"Awesome it did work!" Saito stated happily.

Yuuchiro put down the mirror and instructed his son.

"Try utilizing Rush's ability to go between worlds." Yuuchiro commanded his son.  
Saito looked at the ground and then to his father. Yuuchiro nodded him onward. Saito looked at the ground a couple of feet away and pointed his palm at the spot.

"To the Science Labs cyber world." Saito thought as sparks flew from his hand once more and connected with the psychedelic colored floor.

A few seconds later a hole in the ground formed and on the other end was the inside space of the Science Labs cyber world. He leapt through and braced himself like Lan did when they had to leap into a dimensional area from the outside. When he opened his eyes again he found himself standing on a platform in the cyber world. As soon as he landed the hole closed up and then a screen popped up in front of him.

"Dad!" Saito called to the man on the screen, "I made it through fine."

"I can see that." Yuuchiro stated with a smile, "Try to come back to the real world now."

"Okay." Saito said as he pointed his open palm towards the ground once more and another hole opened with the end in the real world as he commanded it to do so.

He leapt through the hole and found himself in the testing chamber once more. The hole closed as quickly as before. Saito flashed a thumb up at the two scientists as the dimensional area was disengaged and Saito's outfit changed back from the Megaman look.

The Rush synchro chip popped out of the battlechip slot and returned to being Rush.

"Great work, Rush!" Saito said patting the dog on the head.

Rush smiled cockily as the boy patted his head and barked a response to the compliment which they all guessed was a thank you.

"Now all we need to do is install a battlechip program that allows you to use any battlechip Lan has." Yuuchiro said as he took the prototype PET from Saito once again and plugged his console into it, "This way you won't have to load the chips beforehand and you'll get to have an unlimited supply."

A minute later the update was done and Yuuchiro unplugged the PET and handed it to Saito.

"What are you gonna call this version dad?" Saito asked as he took back the strange PET and hooked to his wrist.

Yuuchiro sat down and rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought.

"I think I'll call it..." Yuuchiro began to say, " the Linksys PET the only one of its kind for now."

"Nice." Saito said looking at his newly name PET.

"We should look into seeing if the Linksys PET will be compatible with the Battlechip Gate too." Mr. Famous suggested before Maylu's PET phone began to ring.

"Hello?" Roll said as she answered the phone and then had her hologram appear with a screen next to her, "You guys gotta here this!"

Roll's tone was urgent making them dash to the pink Navi. Chaud face appeared on the screen he look really worried which spelled bad news.

"What is it?" Yuuchiro asked the teenager on the screen, "What's wrong?"

"Dr. Hikari I just got a call from Maylu." Chaud explain his tone dead serious, "Lan's been kidnapped."

** Chapter 10 END**

** -**  
_I had to rewrite some parts several times as I tried to avoid going all mushy on you guys. I'm afraid I got a little sappy at some parts and I apologize however the next chapter is sure to be interesting._


	11. Chapter 11

** Chapter 11: Counting down**

_An hour and forty-nine minutes before the kidnapping…_

Lan and Maylu had just finished exploring the floor with the different cultural carnival games. Lan had finally won Maylu a necklace with a pink colored jewel hanging on the chain and a small pink teddy bear. All Maylu had managed to get was some battle chips that originated from another country far from Japan. Lan was grateful for them anyway. Now they were staring at the directory panel hanging on a wall near the stairs and elevators. Several Posters were plastered next to the directory panel and one of them instantly caught his attention.

"Hey, Maylu, look!" Lan said pointing to the flashy poster, "Looks like their having a private screening for that movie, Unnatural."

"Really?" Maylu asked turning her attention to the poster, "Hey they're playing it in a theater on one of the floors."

"Let's see it's on the 10th floor and we are on the 4th." Lan informed Maylu as he looked to and from the poster and the directory panel.

"The next screening is in fifteen minutes." Maylu said looking to Lan, "Want to go see it?"

"Hell yeah!" Lan replied excitedly.

As they dashed up the stairs little did they know that not too far behind was the enemy.

_Fifty-two minutes until kidnapping…._

The line to the movie screening ticket booth was long in fact it had almost stretched out to the stairs.

"Boy this might take a while." Lan stated trying to see the ticket booth.

"I hope they don't run out before they get to us." Maylu said looking at Lan's wristwatch.  
Thirty-eight minutes to kidnapping…

"Phew. I thought we wouldn't get to see it." Lan said as they took their seats in the make shift theater.

"Wow this place is packed." Maylu said as she surveyed her surroundings.

"Hey look its starting." Lan whispered to Maylu excitedly.

Maylu shook her head and held back a laugh as the opening credits streamed on the screen. She and Lan were still holding hands, but as the movie progressed Lan eventually slung his arm around to her shoulder as they scrunched closer. The room had grown quiet chilly and Maylu was wishing she had worn a warm jacket preferably with sleeves. She huddled closer to Lan's warm body trying to soak up the heat from him.

"Are you cold?" Lan asked in a whisper at one point.

Maylu nodded as a reply and scooted away from Lan as he took off his jacket and slung it over her shoulders. The jacket was nice and toasty warm plus it smelled like Lan. She sniffed in its warm scent and huddled back over to Lan. The movie they watched was both action packed with some romance. It suited their tastes equally.

The movie was working on getting to the climax when Lan realized that he shouldn't have drunk so much liquid before the movie.

"I'll be right back." Lan whispered to Maylu before he shuffled his way out of the aisle and out of the doors making a run for the boy's restroom. It was eerily quiet and dark outside of the make shift theater. There was no line for the next screening at all.

_Six minutes until kidnapping…_

As Lan came back out of the bathroom he felt something whizz by his head which made him duck down. He instantly gave into his Net Savior instincts and tried to head for cover. He was quick, but not quick enough as he dove behind a counter he felt something his shoulder right where his scar started. He stifled a groan as he reached and pulled out whatever it was. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he realized it was a throwing star and a rather small one at that. It wasn't meant to kill, but rather inflict pain and whoever was throwing them had either gotten a lucky shot or knew if it hit there it would be very painful. However he started to change his mind when he felt his limbs go numb and he started feeling very tired. The throwing star had been laced with some kind of drug.

Lan stumbled to his feet trying to make a run for the theater since he knew he had no chance now with the drug working through his system. Suddenly someone was behind him and had grabbed his right arm and threw him to the floor pinning his left arm underneath his own body. Another hand grabbed his head and forced it to face the floor. Lan tried to jerk his right arm out of the attacker's grip, but the drug was working too fast and his struggle was starting to cease. He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore nor could he fight off whoever was trying to kidnap him. His mind became hazy as he slipped off into a drugged slumber.

Once he was sure his target was under the effects of the drug only then did Fantom release his grip on the boy and then stuffed him into a bag which he slung over his shoulder. He smirked as he pulled out his PET and commanded Shino to contact his extraction vehicle. After the deed was done he made his way to the roof of the sea tower to await the helicopter that was his ticket to success.

_Later_ just a few minutes before the movie was supposed to end were when Maylu wandered out of the movie theater and found the throwing star. She panicked and frantically searched the building floor until she was positive he was missing. She ran downstairs to find either Tamako or Raoul hoping they would let her use their PET phones. She found Tamako first and explained that she needed to borrow her PET so she could call Chaud.

_About an hour and a half later_ was when Chaud and the authorities along with Saito showed up and the sea tower's tenth floor was cleared of civilians.

"Protoman I want you to search the security footage and bookmark anything suspicious." Chaud commanded his sword wielding Navi as he logged him into the security system before turning to face the two officers behind, "You two go make sure no one is on this floor unless I say they can be."

The two officers quickly stood at attention before they went to do as they were command, but not without mumbling a few things between each other.

"The Net Saviors keep getting younger every year." One mumbled to the other.

"Yeah why are we leaving the crime fighting to such young kids, who should be out playing." The other replied.

Chaud rolled his eyes at the conversing officers and returned to face Maylu and Saito.

"Sorry it took us awhile to get here." Chaud said to Maylu and then looked to Saito, "Saito do you have any clues on who could have taken him?"

Saito shook his head. Unfortunately he did have inkling as to who kidnapped his brother, but he was too worried to see the thought occur and Chaud take notice.

"Alright Maylu I need you to give me your full statement later, but for now go home and rest." Chaud instructed her before he turned back to Saito, "We need to talk."

Chaud ushered Saito to follow him over to where there weren't so many officers and ears to hear what Chaud had to say.

"Chaud, I lied." Saito said halfway to where Chaud was going to make him stop in his tracks and turn to face Saito, "Lan and I hacked into some files the other day. They were reports on the accident and there was this phrase one of the reports led to. It said blood will reign. Late that night when we got home and Lan was asleep. I secretly looked up anything and everything the phrased could refer to and nothing."

"Saito what you are telling me could get you arrested, but since I didn't hear it I won't tell after all even I don't have clearance to read those files, yet." Chaud said, "However those reports were edited to keep a certain secret from leaking and I think it's time you knew about it."

"Secret?" Saito murmured questioningly.

Chaud took a deep breath before he went on, "You remember the battle against Cache and when Lan fainted afterwards."

"Yeah." Saito stated not exactly seeing where Chaud was leading him, but he continued to listen.

"Dr. Hikari discovered something when he had Lan scanned and you were being repaired." Chaud explained, "Cache wasn't totally destroyed. Lan has a piece of Cache living within him."

"What?" Saito almost yelled, but quickly silenced himself, "How?"

"Cache must have known that he would lose against Lan and you so he planted a piece of himself right on Lan's brain stem. It must've been before you two cross fused or perhaps when he was trying to capture Lan." Chaud wondered aloud to Saito, "Nevertheless only Maylu, your father, and I knew about it for a while, but now the Chief and Mr. Famous know."

Chaud paused for a while as he let the information set into Saito who was dumbfounded by all this.

"Saito he must not know or have even a hint as to what he contains." Chaud asked of Saito, "Please for his benefit as well as the worlds."

Saito didn't know whether to be angry or worried, but all he could come up with was frustration.

Suddenly Chaud's PET phone began to ring seeing that Saito didn't need much of his attention he went ahead and answered it.

"Hello, Dr. Hikari." Chaud greeted the screen that appeared in front of him with his friend's father's face staring back at him, "What can I help you with?"

"I'm afraid to say there's more bad news." Dr. Hikari stated his looked extremely worried and turned to face someone out of the screen's view, "Ms. Yuri would you care to explain?"

"Of course doctor." The young woman who was Ms. Mari's twin sister stepped forward and faced Chaud with a dead serious face. Even though they once had been enemies overtime

Chaud had found some new respect for the foe turned friend so he listened to her unversed by the past.

"So what's the bad news?" Saito asked turning his attention to the projected screen with Yuri displayed on it.

"Chaud, Saito." She began nodding to them, "Dark Miyabi died early this morning."

"WHAT?" Saito exclaimed receiving some hushes from Protoman and Chaud.

"Listen closely you three because I'm not going to repeat this." Yuri informed them, "The organization Dark Miyabi that sent him to assassinate Lan Hikari and Megaman is known as Blud. Recently Blud sent out an operative to complete the job Mr. Dark never did; however it seems they have gained knowledge of some kind and have only just kidnapped Lan. Mr. Dark went out early this morning to stop the operative, but was too wounded from the last encounter I believe. I only just found his body a couple of hours ago. Shadowman's PET is missing as well as Shadowman himself."

"Blud will reign." Saito muttered aloud realizing it just as Chaud did.

"How much do you know about Blud?" Chaud inquired of the older woman.

"Only what I just told you." Yuri explained as she looked downward from the screen, "We need to find Shadowman if we want even a glimmer of a chance at rescuing Lan. I've sent Spikeman searching, but no luck so far."

"I'll go find him." Saito said after a moment his face was cast downward.

"How?" both Chaud and Yuri asked at the same time.

"No time to explain, Yuri where did you find Dark's body?" Saito continued brushing of their first question.

"I found his body close to the sea tower bridge in an alleyway near 19th and Square Street." Yuri told the brunette still confused.

"Okay thank you Yuri." Saito said taking off from where he stood as he called up Roll on his Linksys PET, "Roll, I need Rush pronto."

"Okay then, I'll be sending him via email message." Roll informed him.

"Wait, Saito?!" Chaud tried calling after the brunette, but was too slow.  
He looked to Yuri, but she only shrugged. Chaud could only grin at the way Saito was acting.

"They are definitely brothers." Chaud murmured to himself before he commanded the woman on the screen to send her Navi to the same destination as Saito, "Hopefully the two of them will come up with something."

Many minutes later Saito was standing on a street corner where 19th and Square Street met. Rush had appeared next to him earlier on when he was still sprinting towards the destination Yuri had pointed him too. He looked around finding that since it was late in the night that there was hardly anyone around.

"Get ready Rush." Saito informed the dog as he called his father, "Dad I need a dimensional area around the corner of 19th and Square Street."

"Okay I'll get Famous on it." Dr. Hikari said before he hung up and a few seconds later the surrounding area was engulfed in a dimensional area and everything became psychedelic.

Rush barked a couple of times before he leapt into the air and transformed into the Rush Synchro Chip. Saito quickly caught the chip before he slotted it into his Linksys PET and shouted out the command chain, "Rush Sychro Chip in! Download! Begin Crossfusion!"

After the fusion was complete he didn't waste any time creating a warp hole and jumping through it. Like before the warp hole closed right after he had jumped through, but this time he received several gasps since in the Net it seemed that it was the opposite of the real world.

"Megaman?" a familiar raspy voice called causing the blue bomber to turn around and find the recognizable foe turned ally Spikeman standing a few cycles behind him.

"Oh good you're here already." Megaman said getting straight to business and then turned to the crowd still staring at him, "Alright Clear the area people there's been a crime and we need to search the area."

The surrounding Navi didn't waste any time in doing as Megaman said and pretty soon there was only Spikeman and Saito standing in the area.

"How did you become Megaman again?" Spikeman asked the smaller Navi.

"Look, Spikeman, my brother is kidnapped and Dark Miyabi is dead with Shadowman missing. Shadowman is the only one who can help us track down Blud. Explanations will wait because I want to save my brother first." Megaman stated angrily, but he managed to keep his cool as he stomped off to floating blue panel.

He looked at his hand and then to the floating blue panel. He hoped that maybe his new ability could work here just as well as in the real world. He pointed a gloved open palm at the blue panel and waited a moment before sparks flew out and he found himself in total command of the data stream within the terminal he was occupying. Spikeman could only stand back and watch with his jaw dropped. He thought to inquire once more, but decided against it because of the earlier outburst. He did not wish to invoke the wrath of the mighty Megaman.

"Got it!" Megaman said after several minutes had passed and he lowered his palm, "Load! Sensor!"

Instantly a mini Sensor virus appeared in beside Megaman in which he turned to it and threw up his palm once more. Sparks emitted once more and the command was issued.

"Trace this code stream from Shadowman." Megaman commanded the miniature virus which nodded before flying, "Come on Spikeman we got to follow it to Shadowman!"

Spikeman shook his head and laughed a little as he chased on after the smaller Navi. He didn't know much, but he trusted Megaman would lead them to Shadowman so he followed blindly.

** Chapter 11 END**


	12. Chapter 12

** Chapter 12: Disconnected**

"Well done, Fantom." The doctor said to the plum haired boy as they walked into the doctor's study, "Did you run into any problems?"

"Nothing I couldn't take care of, like….eliminating the infamous, Dark Miyabi." Fantom informed the older man as a cruel smile formed across his face and the doctor sneered at the thought.

"Well done once more, Fantom, you make me proud." The doctor told Fantom with pride in his tone.

"What's to be done with the boy I brought in?" Fantom inquired as to change the subject.

As much pride Fantom felt in defeating his old sensi, he felt greater curiousity about the fate of Lan Hikari in the hands of the dark organization, Blud.

A mischievous smile plastered itself across the doctor's face as he explained, "First we'll torture him as is our routine to make others suffer. Then when he's to the point of breaking I'll expose a few secrets about himself he didn't even know and that's when I'll unleash my master plan."

The doctor's evil laughter filled the room they stood in, while Fantom smirked a little at the idea the doctor had for the fate of Lan Hikari. Once the doctor finished his cackling he asked another inquiry of Fantom.

"So what of Dark's Netnavi?" the doctor questioned the younger man his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I sent Shino after him, nevertheless my own Netnavi has yet to return." Fantom replied after a pause.

"This is too easy." The doctor chuckled as he pushed back some stray hairs, "Shino is an exact copy of Shadowman, but since his Netop defeated the so called Dark Miyabi I wouldn't doubt his Navi to die just as easily. You deserve a rest for your efforts so go on."

Fantom bowed deeply to the doctor before he went to take his advice and go rest in his room.

Meanwhile deep in the Undernet Megaman and Spikeman were still following the miniature Sensor virus Megaman had conjured up.

"We ought to be very careful Megaman." Spikeman warned the smaller Navi, "I believe there are still darkloids roaming about down here."

As if on cue something fast and large darted between them. It howled once before it darted after them once more. Although this time it went for Spikeman, who barely dodged it, but he still received a blow to the shoulder shattering one of his spikes. The blur leapt to the ground and did a quick 180 before launching itself at Megaman.

"Load! Long sword!" Megaman called out before his right hand transformed into a lengthy blade.

He quickly swung it only to have the brown blur dodge it, but Megaman was just as quick and retaliated and the creature howled once more and tried to catch him off guard.

Eventually at one point Megaman caught his sword in the creature's claw to finally get a good look at what was attacking them.

"Savageman?" Megaman asked aloud in awe at who he was seeing, but he kept his blade intangled in the beast Navi's claws so he couldn't hardly move away.

"No." the beastly navi growled in response, "Are you here to kill me?"

"Megaman I got your back!" Spikeman shouted as he pointed a spike at the opposing Navi's back, "That's not Savageman."

"Megaman?" the beastly navi growled questioningly and then a moment later he stopped struggling to release his claw from the entanglement.

"Forgive me." The creature spoke with a bow and his voice sounding like a beast version of Glide's, "You were the one to kill my brother?"

"Yeah?" Megaman murmured clear confused and allowed his sword to dissipate, "Who are you?"

Megaman studied the Navi's design much closer now and realized at first glance one could confuse this Navi to be Savageman, but a longer look proved that thought wrong. His claws were orange and red instead of white and his eyes were red and blue instead of red and yellow. He looked more wolfish rather than a lion as Savageman had. Plus he had actual brown hair flowing out of his helmet all the way down his back and his two long fangs were red while they protruded from the bottom jaw instead of the top jaw.

Also as the took a step back and began to make gestures as he spoke Megaman noticed that the orange claws were just an extension of his hand armor and that the Savageman look alike had actually hands. The hands may have looked like the way Megaman's did whenever he went into either of his beast-out forms, but they were slightly bigger.

"Pardon my manners." The wolfish looking Navi said as he put a black gloved hand gingerly on his chest, "I've seem to have forgotten them due to my paranoia. I am Ravageman, a solo Navi."

He bowed to both Spikeman and Megaman respectfully as the two of them shot each other looks of confusion.

"I never knew that Savageman had a copy running around." Spikeman stated looking Ravageman up and down with a slight distaste for his presence.

"I am not a copy of him. I am his twin brother." Ravageman stated cooly ignoring Spikeman's disdain, "He was a solo navi too, that is until that darkloid corrupted him."

Megaman shook his head as Spikeman and the navi called Ravageman began to have a heated discussion. He looked around to see that his Sensor virus was waving at him try to usher him to follow. He then turned back to face the quarreling Navis.

"Hey, guy?" He called once and was ignore so he called again, "GUYS!"

That time he caught their attention as they both stopped slandering each other and focused their attention to the small blue Navi.

"Ravageman did you happen to see a purple ninja theme Navi pass this way?" Megaman inquired hoping to get Spikeman back on track also.

Ravageman nodded quickly and then pointed to the hill Megaman's Sensor was on.

"I believe he was being chased by another ninja towards yonder hill. That's the last I saw of them, but I did overhear a couple of Navis talking of a fight near the Undersquare. If that is any help." Ravageman explained his voice becoming more guttural as he spoke.

"Thanks." Megaman said beckoning Spikeman to follow, "Nice meeting you."

Saito was a little unsure of that last line he spoke since his encounters with Savageman weren't so….civil.

Quite a many moments later Megaman and Spikeman could hear a boom in the distance to which they trudged toward.

"Well, well, it looks like the crazy Savageman copy was right." Spikeman jeered at the absent navi.

Megaman ignored the comment charged past the Sensor virus that he deleted as he passed it by. He no longer needed it since they apparently had found the battling duo described by Ravageman of earlier. Megaman gasped at what he saw when he reached the outskirts of the damage area. Shadowman and his opponent were pausing to catch their breath long enough for Megaman to catch a glimpse of the other navi.

The opposing navi looked an awful lot like a darker colored version of Shadowman himself except his face wasn't covered and he had two sword scabbards attached to his back. The sash and star on his head was golden unlike the blood red of Shadowman's.  
Megaman went to take a step towards Shadowman when Spikeman held him back.

"We better not interrupt this now." Spikeman stated his expression concerned as he looked at Shadowman, "It's about to reach the climax."

Megaman looked up at Spikeman's face and then followed his gaze to Shadowman. Shadowman had a few scratches, but none were hardly worth worrying over, but as for his double he was the most damaged for he was now missing an arm and a part of his cheek was disintegrating.

"Think you can continue, Shino?" Shadowman asked his opponent with sarcastic concern.

The Navi presumed to be Shino shot a nasty look at Shadowman as he drew a sword with his only arm.

"I will end your existence…..and prove that I, Shinobiman, am the better ninja!" Shino exclaimed as he pointed the tip of his blade at Shadowman.

Shadow leapt at Shino his own blade drawn and in position to attack. Their swords clashed several times whether midair or on the ground. Then Shino at one point summoned a kunai and stabbed Shadowman in the shoulder with it. Shadowman winced a little as he withdrew the small knife-like object out of him and then quickly returned the favor.

"You're just a poorly made copy. Weak." Shadowman whispered as he leapt back after forcing Shino to fall to his back.

At this moment Megaman took one look at Spikeman before he raised up his hand, which transformed into the Megabuster, and fired some shots at Shinobiman without blinking.

"What are you doing?!" Spikeman spat as Shino's other arm began to disintegrating along with his leg now damaged by Megaman's interference.

"I don't have time for this." Megaman stated darkly as he was given a glare from both Shadowman and Shino.

He trudged over to where Shino now lay practically paralyzed as his body was slowly disintegrating to his deletion. Shino cackled as he watched the blue Navi come closer until he saw the look in his eyes.

"Load! Cyber Sword!" Megaman called forth another sword chip and pointed it at Shino before he kicked him and then shouted, "Where is Lan Hikari?! Where did you take him?!"

Shino cringed at the kick and both Shadowman and Spikeman were shocked at Megaman's antics. They knew the little blue Navi did get angry, but both never ever witnessed the wrath of Megaman until now. They were frozen to where they stood as they watched Shino cackle a bit.

"Coward shooting a man down when he's distracted, I thought the mighty blue bomber was above such dishonorable acts." Shino cackled with a smirk, "Has being human taught you to forget your manners? Or did you learn that from your brother?"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT LAN LIKE THAT!" Megaman roared driving his sword into Shino's chest.

"Blud will reign!" Shino spat before the deletion completed and Megaman went into a rage kicking and slashing at the bits of data that was leftover.

A few minutes later he calmed down finally and sat on the ground panting heavily. Shadowman and Spikeman were both still frozen to where they stood. They didn't know what to do at this point.

Meanwhile Megaman tried using his psychic link with Lan to see if he could contact him that way, but he felt nothing except a wall between them. He wanted to cry, but he knew that wouldn't help the situation.

"Lan." He thought not caring if it got through or not, "Why are we so disconnected?"

Elsewhere Lan found himself no longer in a dream, but rather a nightmare. He could see through his brother's eyes and was slightly horrified at the sight he was seeing. He had witnessed Megaman's anger before when Dark Megaman had Shademan steal Lan and attack him to make him angry on purpose. He knew he would feel the same way if it was vice versa, but the anger, rage, and hatred was perhaps a piece of darkness fleeting its way out to the surface. Suddenly the scene turned back into that fateful event he had just thought about.

He and Megaman had just split and Shademan now had him in his talons and was flying far away from Megaman.

"What are you doing? Put me down!" Lan growled at the darkloid as he struggled to free himself of the batty Navi.

"Hush boy!" Shademan retorted digging his talons deeper into the boy's shoulders making him cry out slightly from the pain, "This can be worse than it has to be if you keep struggling!"

Lan stayed silent for the rest of the trip, but still shifted around since now he was extremely uncomfortable with the talons digging into his shoulders. A minute later though he found himself being thrown to the ground before Shademan came in for a landing. He tried to tuck and roll onto the ground, but wasn't quick enough so he severely strained a few muscles and twisted his ankle pretty good. He grimaced a little as he stood and tried to run.

"Don't be so hasty now." Shademan said reaching out to snag Lan off his feet and fling him into a boulder, "The party has only just started."

Before Lan could think or get to his feet once more Shademan strutted over and grabbed him by the hair and lifted him slightly off the ground just as he punched him in the face. All Lan could do was cry out in angst as he was hit nonstop. Shademan laughed as he threw him around like a ragdoll.

"I've always wondered who made the dynamic duo strong." Shademan stated as choked Lan with one hand and lifted him into the air, "I can see now it's not you. Megaman could be strong without you and he never needed the ties of a human to make him what he is now."

He threw Lan down once more and cackled as he watched him roll away and try to catch his breath. He walked slowly towards the boy still laughing at the human's weakness before him. He stopped short a bit as he was glared at and smirked.

"Oh you have something to say?" He jeered with a toothy smile revealing his extremely sharp pointed canines.

Lan spat blood on the ground before Shademan's talons and then said, "You're wrong."

"Oh, I am?" The batty Navi taunted once more.

Lan tried a couple of times to stand, but finally manage to and then sternly looked straight into Shademan's eyes as he stated, "We are connected by a bond that makes us stronger. Yeah, here I may be a worthless human you can throw about and kick around, but back in the real world it's a different story. If I cross fuse there you have no chance of beating, us."

Shademan was silent for a second as he raised his eyebrows in thought, but smiled cruelly at the boy.

"Maybe so, but for now you are here and you know what the funny thing is? Here I can be revived, but in the real world my data disappears and is sent to a different plane known as the dark world. Sadly the same can't be said for you humans." Shademan explained inching closer to and then snatching him off the ground again this time holding him up by the shirt, "I kill you in reality and you die. I delete your consciousness here and you die for real as well. No matter what you humans are so fragile that if I were to scratch your throat…"

He lifted a finger towards Lan's neck and pressed it against so Lan knew it was there, but it wouldn't do any damage only if Shademan angled it slightly and moved it quickly enough.

"One swift motion here and it's all over for you." Shademan continued sneering as he watched the boy change from confident to worried in a matter of seconds, "Except today is your lucky day. I've been ordered to turn you into…..what's the phrase…ah, yes I remember…..damaged goods."

The color faded from Lan's face making Shademan gleam in the glory of scaring the boy into fearing him. Lan was scared of him from the moment he was snatched, but now did it only surface. The next few seconds Lan wasn't sure what happened, but apparently he had been thrown into something that knocked him out or had been hit hard enough.

He shuddered at the memory and hugged himself as he felt a slight chill then a blinding light.

He was awake now and found himself strapped down to a metal chair of some sort. He tried to wiggle out of the straps and clamps, but the drug was still wearing off and he feel a surge of pain in his shoulder as he felt that the wound the throwing star had made was not attended to.

"Great." He muttered as he let out a deep sigh.

"I'll try contacting Saito." Lan thought though he got the same results as his brother had, "Dang it. Why can't I get through."

A moment later the door behind Lan's chair opened and only one pair of feet waltzed in. Lan guessed this thanks to his years as a Net Savior though he wished they would get him out of the chair and away from who was now in the room.

"Glad to see you finally awake, Lan Hikari." A gruff male voice said from behind him.

A few more steps and now Lan had a clear view of the mysterious voice's owner. The man was well into his years Lan guess since his short dark brown hair was streaked with grey.

He sort of had a beard growing, but for now it was just pinpricks. Besides his hair being slicked back with tons of gel, or sweat, he kept the rest of himself well kept. His attire consisted of a dark red trench coat, a white linen cravat, black waist coat, light grey shirt, very dark red pants, white gloves, and brown dress shoes. The man's eyes were a deep green indicating that he was not originally Japanese.

"Who are you?" Lan asked finally.

"I am Dr. Grey of the Blud organization and leader of the Japanese branch, which means that even if you somehow escape from here or destroy us, I doubt it, there are more of us outstretched across the globe." The man stated as plain as day.

Lan was silent mostly due to the awe of the aura this man produced. He felt cornered like a mouse about to be ripped apart by a cat.

Dr. Grey sensed his fear and a creepy smile formed on his face as he proceeded to pull up a cart Lan hadn't noticed before. The cart had all sorts of weird looking tools laid out upon it. Lan knew what some of those tools were going to be used for and he gulped a little.

Dr. Grey reached for a small knife and looked Lan straight in the eyes as he said, "Let's begin."

** Chapter 12 END**

_I am truly a Lan/Netto fangirl. Though I think I like to torture my favorite characters for some strange reason. I'm normally a happy peppy person. The kind you imagine running around in a field of daisys with butterflys all around. That kind of happy picture. I don't know anymore, I think I have a displaced personality. Also I meant to say this a few chapters ago, but I was researching and was watching the english dub of Megaman Nt Warrior Axess it was the episode when we first fight Videoman. Apparently Lan wears a watch and its blue with the Megaman Navi mark as the clock part. I was like wtf why didn't I notice this before! Wait...I think I have...I just forgot...and I call myself a fangirl! DX It's hard to see it since his white shirt sleeves are long enough to cover it._

_Anyway as you may have noticed I have successfully written out a character, but decided to introduce a new character Ravageman. My favorite Nemisis of the Axess series was Beast/Savageman. I hate it that he was given a Netop in stream and never appeared again after that. I might write a side story to give some depth into how he and his brother came to be and such. Wait...does this mean the story is becoming an alternate universe and I am listing it wrong. Well it does take place four or three years after the end of Beast+...I know I mixed in the manga with the anime there. Sorry if its confusing, but I'll try and clear that up in the Concept of RB text file that explains everything. (psssttt! its on my DA)_


	13. Chapter 13

** Chapter 13: Reconnection**

An hour later back at the Science labs everyone involved had gathered into Dr. Hikari's special lab. Everyone included: Mr. Famous, Maylu, Chief Kifune, Chaud, Yuri, Manabe, Rush, Saito, and Dr. Hikari himself of course. Several Navis were also gathered on a huge monitor looking at the occupants of the room. It was Spikeman, Shadowman, Roll, and Protoman gathered on the huge screen. They were all talking at once that is except for Saito, he sat on the sofa with his knees up to his chin hugging his legs too.

Saito was deep in thought and barely could hear the others arguing or conversing about the situation they were in. He was concentrating on contacting Lan through their psychic link and also trying to bring down the wall that seemed to have formed between them. He closed his eyes as he forced himself deep into his subconscious. He dwelled deeper and deeper until he was sure he was now submerged his own subconscious state.

Saito seemed to be standing in some kind of dreamscape of some sort. He walked forward for a bit and realized he was in a knee deep waters that were black as night. He didn't feel wet, but he somehow knew it was water and kept walking towards an island of some sort. It was a white sandy hill with a metal gate tightly chained shut. He sprinted towards it eager to reach it as soon as possible.

Eventually he grew tired of running after he realized no matter how fast he ran he couldn't seem to bring the far off island any closer. He sighed and sat down in the water now only up to his stomach. He leaned back supporting himself with his arms and stared off at the island.

Suddenly something or rather someone rose out of the water several feet in front of Saito making him leapt to his feet out of fright. It was a ghostly white silhouette of Megaman except you couldn't see his eyes for a shadow covered that part of the face thanks to the helmet. Saito cringed and stepped back his fear of ghosts getting the better of him.

"G-g-g-g-g-g-ghost?!" Saito stammered as he tried to dart away only to find the same thing with the island occurring to him with the ghost now, "P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-please d-d-d-don't h-h-hurt me!"

The ghost tilted its head as if to say it was confused and then it waved a hand to signal that it would do no such thing.

"Oh." Saito said still slightly trembling, "So why are you here? Can you help me get to the island over there?"

The ghostly silhouette of Megaman nodded and pointed to the island.

"Yeah, I'm trying to reform my psychic connection with my brother, Lan." Saito explained as he followed the ghost Megaman towards the island, "Though I wonder why or connection seems to be blocked."

The ghost Megaman continued onward without a word. Now the island was just a few feet away when the ghost stopped and pointed to the gate once more. Saito looked to where the ghost pointed and saw a sign was hung over the gate.

"To cross you must regain what you can no longer do as you are now." Saito read the wooden sign and then itched the back of his head in thought, "Do you know what it means?"

The ghost shrugged and took another step onto the sands of the shore. Then the ghost Megaman's right hand transformed into a sword and he began to carve a message into the sand.

Saito read it aloud once more after the ghost Megaman had finished, "Netnavi, Human?"

Saito still didn't get it until the ghost made a gesture that he thought he had forgotten, but now remembered.

"Perfect synchro." Saito murmured and then asked the ghost, "The message on the gate is talking about how Lan and I have forgotten about Perfect Synchro isn't it?"

The ghost Megaman nodded and had his sword return to being a hand. He stepped closer to Saito and touched a figure to where Saito's heart was. Now Saito could see the eyes of the ghost and realization set in.

"Those eyes, you're Perfect Synchro Megaman!" he exclaimed with a smile, "You've been trapped here, awaiting me, trying to keep the gate open." Saito trailed off as the ghost dissipated and filtered into his chest.

"I understand now." Saito said as he continued up the hill to the gate.

The wooden sign disappeared to as well as the chains after he gave them a swift tug. As the gates opened a scream filled his ears and he awoke on the floor of his father's lab covered in cuts and bruises.

He sat up and looked around seeing that Maylu had been the one to scream gaining the attention of everyone who then noticed Saito's state.

"What happened?" Chaud asked as he was the first to Saito's side.

"These aren't mine." Saito murmured examining the wounds himself.

"What do you mean?" Chief Kifune inquired as he folded his arms and Mr. Famous went to get the first aid kit.

Saito's eyes went distant for a bit as he gained view of a man dressed in red and black holding up a bloodied knife. He could feel Lan's fear and his pain as well, as the man dressed in red and black took the knife to slash at Lan's cheek, which also transferred to Saito making everyone gasp once more when a small cut appeared.

"They're torturing Lan!" Saito declared as Manabe took the kit from Mr. Famous and began to attend to Saito.

"Saito how is it that you know that they are doing that and how did those wounds appear?" Yuuchiro asked shocked still at what he was seeing.

"We never told you dad, but Lan and I have a psychic connection other than Perfect Synchro or even that of Full synchro." Saito explained as he let go of the connection with Lan to stop the wounds from surprising everyone as he spoke, "Besides the transference of pain and wounds we can also see what the other is and communicate on a level of perfection."

Everyone went silent for a while and was frozen in place that is except for Manabe who was still finishing up on patching Saito.

"Well," Chief Kifune began breaking the silence in the room, "the Hikari family certainly is full of many surprises."

Saito gave the chief a toothy grin and stood up off the floor after getting the okay from Manabe since she was finished.

"I'll be okay now." Saito assured everyone in the room, "I got control of it back."

Yuuchiro nodded to his son as tears filled his eyes and watched his son strode over to the monitor with the Navis staring at them all.

"Shadowman we need to know everything we can about Blud." Saito demanded sternly of the ninja Navi who only nodded.

"I will do so." Shadowman said and took a deep breath before he went on, "Blud is a deep rooted organization of villainous scum trying to take over the world from the shadows. They'll eliminate any threat to their plans in anyway. Blud hired Miyabi and I as assassins at first and then had us train the one who killed Dark. They also copied some of my data and created a Navi they thought it would be a replacement should we double-cross them. They hired out most of the people Lan and you took down over the years with the exception of the WWW members Mr. Match, Yahoot, Count Zap, and Maddy; however Dr. Wily was an operative of Blud at one time. They are a global organization meaning that they have bases all over the world."

"Like rats." Chaud muttered under his breath.

"Precisely." Shadowman commented and then continued, "The Japanese branch is led by a man known as Dr. Grey and believe it or not, but Dr. Regal use to work closely with this man before he launched Nebula. I've also heard he is a big CEO of some company I don't know what the company does, but it makes a lot of money. Anyway their current base of operations is just outside of Dentech City."

Yuuchiro pulled up a terrain image of Dentech City and the surrounding area for many miles.

"Could you pinpoint it out to us, please?" Chief Kifune questioned the Navi.

"Yes." Shadowman stated as a red dot near the lake began to ping, "Their security is above state of the art and they have armed guards wandering around the entrances."

"Now you make it seem impossible." Protoman said as he put a hand on his hip, "Do you know how we could slip past them or is that impossible too."

"Indeed it is, but there is a way." Shadowman said turning to face the red swordsman, "Though I must request that you take me with you."

"This mission is going to be for rescue not revenge." Protoman informed the purple ninja.

"That is what Dark Miyabi would want me to do first." Shadowman explained folding his arms casting down his eyes, "My revenge will be to take what they stole."

"Good we will need someone familiar with the place as a guide." Chaud said with a confident grin, "So let's make a plan."

"Saito..." A voice whispered making Saito whirl around to see who it was and then realize it was Lan contacting him.

"Lan..." He called back telepathically, "Hang on we are coming."

Lan panted hard and his face was scrunched up into a grimace as the man called Dr. Grey cleaned his tools and laid them neatly back down on the cart. He watched Lan for a moment before he proceeds to continue his conversation.

"I've had my fill of fun now, but I wouldn't rest just yet." Dr. Grey said his face straight as he pushed the cart away and came to stand off to the side of the chair Lan was strapped down to.

The floor around the chair was splattered with the boy's blood as was the chair itself and its occupant. Lan wearily gazed up at the man his resilience fading with every heavy breath he took. His mouth was too dry to form words and his stamina was dwindling. Dr. Grey smiled with satisfaction.

"Now that I have broken you what do you say we play a little game of I'll talk and you listen." Dr. Grey told Lan as he folded his arms behind his back, "How about I tell you a secret your father would never tell you."

He waited for a sign from Lan to show that he was interested before he went on.

"Believe it or not the Hikari family has many dark secrets that not even you would know about." Dr. Grey said, "There is one secret your father swore he would never tell you or your brother about. How do I know about your brother? I have my resources boy. Anyway the secret is this, during the final battle against the enemy known as Cache you locked away in a world created by Cache to trick you into forgetting Megaman. In truth it was a way for the enemy to plant a piece of himself within the hero of the century. After you realized that it was all a trick, of course you were there, you remember don't you? He cornered you and, well, tag, you were it."

Lan's eyes went wide as he listened. He was shocked at how well the man knew about the encounter and he was shocked as he came to realize it too why the reports seemed to be missing something. It was all piecing together now.

"Funny isn't it, that the greatest hope of Japan is harboring a key to their greatest destruction." The man chortled and went back to the cart and picked up a needle with clear liquid inside it, "Now I'm going to expose it."

Lan tried to wiggle away from the needle, but found his resistance futile as the point plunged into a vein and in moments he felt dizzy and then collapsed once more. Although not before calling out to Saito once more through the psychic link they shared that was now restored.

Once he was sure the boy was unconscious he went to the door as soon as he heard knocking. He opened it to find Fantom kneeling on the floor.

"Forgive me sir, but I must inform you that Shino has been deleted." Fantom stated with his head bent downward in reverence.

"Well," Dr. Grey began say for he was a little shocked and now irritated that Shadowman was still alive, "I guess soon they will try to invade, but not while we hold such precious life hostage."

He shot a sneer to the motionless body strapped down to the torture chair.

"Go out with the night guard and put everyone on high alert while I attend to the revival of Cache." Dr. Grey commanded waving the younger man away, "Do be careful for you too, play an important key in my plan of commandeering the destructive powers I have collected."

Fantom looked up at him questioningly for he had no clue to what the doctor was speaking of. The older man waved him away not wanting to waste any more time to keep him from his villainous acts.

"Now I will end your life, Lan Hikari, and awaken the power of Cache." Dr. Grey said after he had closed the door and began to stalk back to his prey.

Just as he was about to pull out some certain 'tools' from a box on the bottom shelf of the cart the lights in the enclosed room went dark.

"Dark creature." A voice called out in the darkness of the room, "I hear your call and awaken, but only to steal your power."

The doctor cackled at the feeble threat and replied, "I'm afraid no one can steal my power, only borrow. Besides I awakened you for a reason. The end of the world as we know it and with your help those who survive will be unified as you see fit, while the creature shall torment those that resist."

"Hmmm. I like your plan." The voice said after a moment, "However does your plan have a way of getting me out of this pathetic shell."

The lights flickered on and all the straps and clamps were broken and Lan was sitting upright with one foot dangling off the chair and his hand resting on his knee of the leg that was propped up on the chair. His voice was different from his normal tone and it sort of had an echo effect.

"What an interesting turn of events this is." Dr. Grey murmured smiling cruelly, "Perhaps for a bit it would be better if you stayed that way, especially since it is the perfect way to eliminate one of the enemies that would dare to stop us."

"I must say you are quite persuasive and I must thank you for weakening this boy enough so I might gain control, although I wish it were done sooner. I like my revenge fresh."  
Cache stated pushing himself off the chair since Lan's body wasn't tall enough to easily reach to floor without a slight drop.

As Lan's body came closer Dr. Grey noticed that his eyes were different now, they were not the greyish brown the boy once had now they were golden yellow and his pupils were slanted like a cat's. A cocky grin formed across the boy's face as he realized that the man was studying him.

"So let's put this plan in motion shall we?" Cache said turning towards the door and beckoning Dr. Grey to follow catching him off guard slightly.

"Right, follow me." Dr. Grey said agreeing as he took lead.

** Chapter 13 END**


	14. Chapter 14

** Chapter 14: Into Darkness**

About an hour later the team was assembled and was quietly traipsing deep into the forest Shadowman was guiding them through. Previously they had all been arguing about who would stay and who exactly would go and eventually Shadowman had to sort them all out and form the plan too. The rescue team was Yuri and Spikeman, Saito and Rush in his synchro chip form, Chaud and Protoman, and then Maylu with Roll. Originally Maylu wasn't supposed to go since she would also need Rush to use cross fusion, but after much pleading and persuasion Maylu was invited to go, but only because of Roll.

"Why can't I come too? I know that Saito needs the Rush synchro chip, but Roll and I can be just as helpful!" Maylu fumed at the purple ninja Navi on the huge screen.

Chaud sighed and replied calmly, "It's too dangerous Maylu and I know for a fact that Lan wouldn't want you to come. He would want you safe."

Although Chaud wasn't sure what state Lan would be in or if he was even still alive for that matter. He also knew Lan wouldn't want Maylu to see him as wounded as he might be. He only had hope to cling to.

"Actually we might need Roll." Protoman said finally, "Sorry Chaud, but from seeing what Rollsoul can do, I would say we need her ability to absorb dark power. If Dr. Regal was truly involved with this man then we can only guess that there is some dark power involved in all this."

Shadowman nodded slightly as he added, "In that case as leader of this expedition I would have to welcome her and Lady Roll to the team."

"But Maylu won't be able to cross fuse since Saito needs the Rush synchro chip too." Chaud stated.

"Then I will go too." Yuri suggested, "If you'll have me."

"Then it's all settled." Shadowman said with a small sigh of relief the predicament had been solved, "Now for the plan."

"Yes of course." Saito added in, "You said there is a way past all their security?"

"Not exactly, you see there's this old abandoned portion of the base that has been slightly sectioned off." Shadowman explained.

"What do you mean by slightly?" Yuri inquired.

"Ugh will you all quit with the questions and just listen!" Shadowman exclaimed aggravated at all the interruptions, "I'm getting to the points! Sheesh, ahem. Now the organization has yet to demolish that part of the old base. It's mostly been abandoned since they upgraded towards those old mines. The only part of the abandoned base is an elevator shaft that may still be operational. If we can make it into the abandon base section that way then we should be able to invade them without giving away ourselves. Though before we enter the actual organization base they have jamming signals setup and you will need a password to disable those. Sadly I think they have changed them so I couldn't tell you the password now."

"Sounds like before we leave the abandoned section we'll be contacting the Science Labs for a dimensional area then?" Chaud asked rhetorically as he looked to Famous and Yuuchiro.

"Perhaps I could suggest something?" Yuri spoke stepping forward, "How about we split into two teams once we call up a dimensional area? One team is the rescue team and the other will invade their network and collect as much information and take down the jamming system too."

"That sounds perfect Ms. Yuri." The chief agreed, "Then if you need backup you will be able to contact us."

"Yes that does seem more conventional." Chaud mentioned although he was sure they wouldn't need backup, but he also knew it didn't hurt to have the option.

"So who will be on which team?" Maylu asked Shadowman eagerly.  
Shadowman glanced over everyone and then replied, "Saito, Chaud, Protoman, and I will be the main rescue as for Yuri, Spikeman, Roll, and you I think you'll find it more useful to invade their network and download what data you can while also disabling the jamming signal."

"Sounds perfect, now let's go!" Saito told the lot as he ran over to the door leading out of the room.

"Wait, how is Shadowman going to come with us?" Maylu interjected.

"Good question." Saito murmured as he folded his arms in thought.

"Dr. Hikari do you still have that copyroid?" Mr. Famous questioned Yuuchiro.

"Yeah of course, it'll be perfect until we can raise a dimensional area. The only risk is that if the copyroid is severely harmed you won't be able to escape back to your PET since you have become a solo Netnavi." Yuuchiro informed Shadowman as he went to the locker that stored the child sized bot.

"Well, looks like most of our problems have been solved." Yuri said as she watched Dr. Hikari plug some wires into the copyroid and Shadowman begin transferring himself into it.

"Yeah and it's time we got this operation moving." Saito murmured.

Shadowman motioned quickly for everyone to hide a patrol group was coming closer. They all dove behind trees or hid in the bushes as the troupe walked on past. Shadowman stealthily eyed one of the patrollers suspiciously. The patrollers most wore form-fitting suits with armored padding made of bullet proof material. At their waste was a tool belt that contained several different weapons varying from knives, tasers, and guns. As for their helmets, they were decked out in the latest communication technology as well as the best in visional technology.

The one that stood out to Shadowman wasn't wearing the normal apparel of a patroller, but rather wearing ninja clad.

Everyone held their breath as the patrolling party stopped and began conversing with the ninja clad person with them.

"I just got some orders from Dr. Grey that you are to report to him now, down in his laboratory." One of the suits said.

The ninja nodded and disappeared into the night.

"Phew. Glad to be rid of him." Another said after the ninja had left.

"I preferred him when he wasn't the boss's lap dog." One mentioned as their voices faded away.

Shadowman waited a few more moments before he gestured to the others that it was okay to move on.

Meanwhile Fantom was puzzling over why Dr. Grey wanted him back so quickly after sending him away to observe the patrol unit. He rolled his eyes at the men he had just been with as he was sure they were mostly idiots running around with guns rather than being what they were supposed to be.

"Mindless goons." He muttered as an insult before he opened the door to the doctor's special laboratory.

The room was dark and Fantom could barely make out two figures standing over a table. He recognized the doctor's shadowy figure, but the other he couldn't place until he was close enough. It was the brunette he had been sent to capture, however, the presence was different aside from the wardrobe too. The boy met his gaze with golden slits and a sneer.

"Once again you fail to astonish me." The boy said snidely his voice and tone not at all belonging to him.

Even though Fantom had only caught a glance of the boy last time he was sure he hadn't been wearing black shorts and a long sleeved cream colored shirt. The wounds from the torture were still healing, but the eyes had Fantom sure it was the boy's persona speaking now, but something or rather someone else.

"I thought you were going to extract something from him, not let him run around loose." Fantom replied calmly and directed his words to the doctor standing off to the side with a smug look on his face.

"Now Fantom this isn't why I called you back. The plan has changed and it's time you took on your real role." Dr. Grey said as he handed picture to Fantom, "This is what you really are."

The picture was that of a mechanical beast colorized in purple mostly and resembled a monster Fantom could recall reading about. Now he was even more puzzled as he looked up at the doctor with a look of a million questions trying to flood out, but only one made it to the top of his tongue.

"What does the super cyber beast have anything to do with me?" Fantom asked glancing back at the photo.

"There are many unexplained events that happened in the past, but after a while they become solved from placing the facts correctly." Dr. Grey stated as he folded his arms, "We have little time, but I'll make this quick. Your real hair color is blond because if you knew it would lead you to the truth, Trill."  
Cache gave a little gasp as he came into realization too.

"Ah, I recognize you now. You're that little bugger I captured and then somehow was able to roam free also allow this boy and his Navi to escape. Per my so called destruction." Cache rambled.

"W-w-what?" Fantom murmured as he thought back to his earliest memory, but could only come up with the one in the alleyway, "I don't understand."

"When Cache here was destroyed you were somehow sent back through time with no memory and you were human." The doctor explained.

"Now that I know what I am what do you expect me to do?" Fantom asked unsure.  
The doctor shot a glance to Cache before he sighed and continued his explanation, "Believe it or not, but there is a way to control you since you carry the beasts."

Fantom began to back away a bit in fear.

"I believe the phrase is, Long live the beast of destruction-"

"NO!" Fantom cried as he tried to back away further, but was caught by the brunette who seemed to have gained incredible strength.

"Grezar."

As soon as the phrase was finished the one known as Fantom stopped his struggle and sat on the floor breathing heavily. From his sleeve Dr. Grey pulled out a needle and without met resistance he injected a sedative into the young man.

"Funny isn't it?" Cache thought aloud, "It all seems to piece together perfectly now."

"Yes." The doctor murmured before he ordered, "Stay in here, I have to go check on a few things before we take action to our plans."

"Of course do what you must." Cache stated tugging the older to a table leg, which he then propped him against.

Meanwhile outside the elevator shaft Protoman just managed to hack into the elevator program and was working on bringing the cart up the shaft. The doors slid open and Chaud stood in the door before he stated, "This is where it all starts once we go down there and find the door our plan is initiated."

"We know our goals." Maylu assured Chaud confidently nodding to him.

He stepped aside and allowed the others to pile in.

"Then let's rock."

** CHAPTER END**


	15. Chapter 15

** Chapter 15: Invasion**

As soon as the doors of the elevator swished open the people piled out and silently followed the purple ninja Navi down rows of dusty, sometimes broken, tables. Chaud kept looking back to Maylu making sure she was keeping up. She seemed to be doing fine and had amazing stamina. Chaud could see why Lan liked the girl so and was a bit envious for a moment before Shadowman broke him from his thoughts as they neared a barred off door.

"Through that door is the operating facility." Shadowman informed them all with a wave of his hand, "This is where part two of our plan shall take place. Good Luck everyone."

Chaud nodded to Shadowman and then glanced back to Saito who was busy pulling out the Rush Synchro chip from his pocket and undoing the straps on his PET to detach it from his wrist. Maylu held her own PET tightly while Yuri had her PET ready from the time they had stepped off the elevator.

"Okay, Protoman send the message." Chaud ordered his red Navi.

"Done." Protoman said a few seconds later, "Famous will have them up in fifteen seconds."

"Good." Chaud said pulling out his own synchro chip and then a thought occurred to him, "Maylu why don't you have Roll use the copyroid from here on?"

"Huh? Oh okay." Maylu said snapping out of her forethoughts as the area went psychedelic.

"I'll transfer out now." Shadowman said as the copyroid went back to being a bot and Shadowman reappeared.

"Alright Synchro chip in! Download!" Chaud said as he inserted the bluish chip and was surrounded by a white light for a moment to have it dissipate and reveal CF Protoman.

"My turn." Yuri said slinging her darker colored synchro chip into her PET, "Dark synchro chip in! Download!"

"Don't forget me!" Saito said with a slight chuckled before he slung in the Rush synchro chip and became Megaman once more.

"Now let's make use of that copyroid once more!" Maylu declared as she jacked Roll into the copyroid and the pink Netnavi appeared in place of the bot.

"Good now for the door." CF Protoman said as he looked at the thick bars and easily sliced through them, "Let's go."

The group stayed together for a couple of hallways and then split per Spikeman instruction as he navigated the blueprint Shadowman had given him. Chaud and Megaman pressed onward carefully as the alarms were going off declaring that the building was under attack.

"We should head this way to the Doctor's special laboratory. I believe that is the place he holds most of his victims." Shadowman stated as he disarmed and silenced some men scrambling to get weapons.

"Lead the way then." Megaman suggested as he threw up a barrier to block a few bullets and then used area steal to bypass his attackers since he was in no mood to stop and fight.

"Hang on Lan we're coming!" Megaman told his twin telepathically, although he was unsure if the message was received, but he at least knew that there was no wall anymore.

Not too far off in a room stood the infamous doctor. He was busy shredding some documents and burning some items as he had heard the alarms sounding off he instantly busied himself in destroying certain papers and objects. A young small woman ran burst into the room gasping for her breath for she had ran a long way or had been frantically searching.

"Sir they are heading toward your laboratory." The young woman informed the doctor.

"Yes I know Ms. Mailo, will you finish up the job here and I will go issue the evacuation order." Dr. Grey said as adjusted his coat and strode out of the room calm and collected, "We have no more use of this facility."

Unfortunately for Dr. Grey the intruders were just around the corner and when one of them spotted him he was instantly recognized by the traitor Navi, Shadowman. He sneered at the boys and took off down several hallways leading them slightly away from their intended course. They followed closely, but not close enough to catch the older man, who was surprisingly spry for his age.

In due course, Dr. Grey lead them to a conference room where he stopped and decided to confront the boys he assumed to be Saito and Chaud. The boys lead by Shadowman stopped short when the man had stopped and turned to face them with an evil grin.

"Where is Lan Hikari?" Chaud demanded as he allowed his sword to disappear.

"You can run no further Dr. Grey." Shadowman stated as he returned his own sword back to it's sheath.

"True that I will run no further, but that doesn't mean I won't fight." Dr. Grey said snidely to Shadowman.

"What do you mean by that?" Megaman inquired glaring at the man intensely.

"It's truly hilarious that the dark creature Nebula Grey was created from a man's own dark soul, wouldn't you agree?" Dr. Grey said taking a small step forward, "What's even more is that it was my soul."

"Impossible!" Chaud exclaimed drawing back slightly.

"Oh it's possible." Dr. Grey stated as he pulled off his white gloves and reveal blackened fingers or rather claws to them all, "It is also possible that I, in turn, am the true god of darkness!"

Suddenly the door behind them slammed shut and lights began to flicker as the room was engulfed in the abyss that was the darkness. Their attention was snapped back to the older man as he cackled uncontrollably and his form morphed into a much different and bigger version of Nebula Grey. Spikes were orange and black, the face and hands were a mix of dark grey and blood red. His eyes were like emeralds and his body was that of the abyss's coloration.

"Welcome to the abyss of the dark god Diablo Nebulous!" The creature roared and then took a swipe at the astounded troupe.

Shadowman and Chaud leapt sideways away while Megaman leapt backwards to avoid the swipe.

"Looks like we have or work cut out for us." Chaud said as he sent a sonic boom at the monster's face.

Earlier after they had split Maylu and Yuri headed exactly where Spikeman, using the blueprint, instructed them to the communications center of the building. As of now they were battling some guards in a hallway. Yuri and Roll fought side by side against their human opponents.

"Here Roll, have a wave of victory! Aqua tower battle chip in, download!" Maylu called from around the corner she was using as a shield.

Bullets were flying everywhere in the hallway that held the fight, but when Roll initiated the tower of water after the assailing men that was the end of it. They were washed up or running after that battle chip was used. Maylu smiled gleefully as she came out of her hiding spot, proud she could be helpful.

"Make another right and the second door to the right is it." Spikeman instructed.

"Alright, you two ready for this?" Yuri asked turning to look at the other two females, "Maylu you may want to hang back a bit more once we go marching in there. There's gonna be hell as they resist and you don't want to get caught in the crossfire."

"I'm not worried especially if it means that we are one step closer to rescuing Lan."  
Maylu believed her amber eyes gleaming with confidence and determination.

Yuri glanced over to Roll who held the same prestige as Maylu and smiled.

"Into the belly of the beast with a smile." Yuri murmured as they carefully rounded the corner and met up with more trigger happy guards.

"Spreader battle chip in! Download!" Maylu shouted as she plugged in the chip and watched as Roll's right arm transformed into the gun and charged down the hallway acting trigger happy too.

Yuri stifles a chuckle as she knocked another guard unconscious and then threw open the door to the communications center. Instantly more gunfire erupted and Yuri barely leapt out of the way.

"Curse it being that I am right." Yuri mumbled to herself as she conjured up a spike barrier and Maylu followed by Roll, joined Yuri in hiding behind it, "Any ideas you two?"

Roll shrugged as Maylu dug around in her pockets and pulled out a handful of battle chips. She plucked out one of the chips and showed it to them.

"Do you think a Blinder chip could get us outta this jam?" Maylu questioned.

"No that is perfect!" Yuri said as she spurred a smile.

Without any more questions Maylu slotted in the battle chip and Roll jumped into the doorway and a blinding light surrounded her and Yuri charged past her. Yuri quickly disarmed the guards and forced them out of the room. In minutes the room was emptied and Yuri stood in the middle with a look of satisfaction about her.

"Good work." Yuri complimented the dyed red head as she and her pink Navi strode in, "I wonder if I should tell Chaud to recommend you to the Net Savior force?"

Maylu blushed a little and brushed off the dust on her clothes.

"It was nothing. Now let's get rid of that jamming signal." Maylu said looking to Roll who nodded and returned to her PET, "Okay, Let's jack in, Roll! Power up!"

"Right behind you kiddo." Yuri said as the cross fusion disengaged and she too had Spikeman plug into the computer network, "I'll hack their system and you try and search for where Lan might be."

Maylu nodded and ordered Roll to do so. A few minutes later Roll pulled up two different video feeds. One showed Lan in different clothes standing the middle of weird looking laboratory and the other showed Megaman, Chaud, and Shadowman battle some dark monster that awfully resembled Nebula Gray or at least how Lan had described it to her.

"I mapped out where these video feeds are coming from if you want to take action, Maylu."

Roll said worriedly staring at the video showing the fight with the monster.  
Maylu looked at Yuri hoping maybe she would have some advice.

"Got it! No more jamming signal for these punks." Spikeman announced proudly.

Yuri looked at Spikeman with a smile and then glanced to Maylu. She looked at the two video feeds and sighed.

"I'd hate to anger Chaud or Lan at this point, but the boys may need Roll's ability to absorb darkness if that thing is anything like Nebula Gray." Yuri stated waving the girl away, "Go on I can do this here myself."

"Thank you." Maylu said with a respectful bow and then had Roll transfer back to the copyroid before they took off.

Yuri looked back to the screen and then commanded Spikeman to call up the group back at the Science Labs.

"Good work Ms. Yuri." Mr. Famous said as he appeared on a small screen.

"I'm sending you the data now." Yuri replied coolly, "Now we can have the upper hand against these cockroaches."

"I agree." Mr. Famous responded, "Any word on Lan?"

"Yes Maylu tracked him down to a laboratory room. He's seems to be fine not to say that I couldn't see any markings indicating there was torture involved." Yuri informed the sidekick scientist.

"I believe our plan is to hospitalize him as soon as he returns." Mr. Famous told her.

"He won't like that." Yuri said with a small chuckle, "Back to business now, judging by all the gunfire we've run into I think you might be wise to call in some heavy backup. It also seems that they are issuing an evacuation order to their employees. Scattering like rats."

"Chief Kifune has been informed and will begin to do as you advised." Mr. Famous explained, "The heavy duty police is on its way as we speak."

"Good, now enjoy the data flow. This is going to take a while." Yuri said with a cocky smile.

Back to Shadowman, Megaman, and Chaud who were all worn out from the impossible fight against the being of darkness, Diablo Nebulous. Chaud heaved himself to his feet once more and tried to help Megaman to his.

"This doesn't look good." Chaud said as he looked to where Shadowman lay, "He's not going to last much longer and sadly I barely have any strength for another attack."

"We are so screwed." Megaman murmured as he wiped some blood off his chin.

"Giving up so soon?" Diablo rumbled as he formed a dark blue energy ball between his claws, "We've barely just begun boys."

Just then a pink arrow whizzed overhead and hit the energy ball causing it to explode and do some damage to its creator. Chaud looked at Megaman with a questioning look, but Megaman shrugged and glanced over his shoulder.

"How did you get in here?" Diablo growled at the new intruders.

The pink Navi took a step forward and launched another arrow at the dark beast.

"Roll Arrow!"

This time the arrow hit Diablo's left shoulder and left massively damaging hole in his shoulder. He roared from the pain and clutched his shoulder with his right claw.

"Roll?!" Chaud called, but was ignored by the pink Navi as she leapt up in the air.

"How about a Roll blast!" Roll growled as she pressed her two fingers to her lips and gestured away a wave of pink hearts at the beast, her face was dead serious and her emerald eyes seemed to burn holes into the creature she glared at.

As Diablo suffered another successful hit Roll landed just a little bit ahead from where Megaman and Chaud were. They were both blown away at Roll's success and astonished at her attitude. She kept her expression stern as she faced the two boys.

"What's wrong with you Mega?" Roll snapped at Megaman, "It's not like you to just give up and what would Lan think?"

Megaman smiled sheepishly as he stood to his feet and gathered his strength.

"You got a plan then?" Chaud asked as he noticed Diablo was recovering.

"Sort of, but it's mostly Maylu's plan and I'll need your assistance." Roll said as she too noticed the monster was regaining his bearings.

Chaud nodded at the pink Navi wondering where her operator was, but decided to not ask since it might be for safety reasons that she was hiding. Roll softened her stern attitude and leapt in the air.

"Keep him from hitting me while I try and go for his chest." Roll commanded as her right hand transformed back into the pink bow.

Megaman fired up his mega-buster and fired off several shots while Chaud summoned a program advance.

"Dream Sword!" He shouted out as he sent the wave out at Diablo.

This only distracted Diablo long enough for Roll to fire a few arrows, but they only hit his face and left arm.

"Roll." Maylu spoke communicating through the PET, "Concentrate on absorbing the dark power not on trying to hit that guy specifically. You can do it!"

"Right." Roll murmured as she dodged a few of the energy balls and focused as Maylu had instructed her to.

Diablo could feel the darkness draining from the room and the abyss was fading. He became frantic as he looked at his surroundings.

"What's going on here?" He roared as he wildly looked around and realized his power was being pulled towards the pink Navi, "YOU!"

Roll stood with her bow at the ready and poised, but she had her eyes closed as she was concentrating hard.

"That's it flow into my weapons." She uttered barely audible.

Diablo was confused and angry as he roared once more, "I'll stop you with this! Dark Nucleus!"

A red energy ball formed at the command and went flying towards Roll.

"No!" Megaman shouted and he leapt in front of it, "Life Aura!"

The aura held for a bit, but it wasn't strong enough to hold back the attack. Chaud, using Life Aura also, shoved Megaman out of the way and tried to combat the attack all himself.

"What are you doing?" Megaman asked as he stood back up and watched slightly horrified.

"We can't have our greatest hero down when we need him." Chaud said as the Protoman suit began to shred slightly and Chaud became covered in cuts.  
Chaud's agony only last for a few minutes though while Roll finished collecting what power she needed.

"Move!" Roll called to Chaud as she opened her eyes and loaded her bow.

He obliged happily and moved to land next to Megaman, although, as soon as he had two feet on the ground his cross fusion came undone and Megaman had to help keep him vertical. Roll fired three arrows from her bow and watched them as they pieced through the Dark Nucleus attack disintegrating it. Her arrows hit three different places of Diablo. First arrow hit his left shoulder once more and destroyed it. The second hit his right eye and the third hit him in the chest where Roll had been aiming for from the get go. The explosion was tremendous and shook the whole room if not the whole base.

"How can this be?" Diablo moaned as the abyss he had created disappeared and the room returned to normal, "How can a mere girl turn my own power against me? HOW?!"

"Even I don't know." Roll stated as she watched Diablo turn to dust.

"Glad that's over with." Chaud managed to say as he stifled a groan.

"Are you going to be okay?" Maylu asked coming up to Chaud's side from her hiding spot.

"Where's Shadowman?" Roll asked looking around and then spotted the purple ninja, "Oh no!"  
Everyone looked to see Shadowman sitting upright, but was missing a few limbs. They all rushed over as best as they could to the fading ninja.

"I'm afraid I'm too damaged to continue." Shadowman stated with a heavy sigh.

"No you've come too far to give up now. This isn't like you Shadowman." Megaman said hoping to convince the purple warrior.

"I always knew my end would be met on the battlefield, but not so pathetically. I stood no chance against Diablo Nebulous." Shadowman said looking up to the ceiling.

"No, you fought valiantly." Chaud murmured to Shadowman.

"Glad someone thinks so." Shadowman replied with his eyes smiling, "You won't need my assistance anymore it seems. Wish I could remain to give it though."

"There's got to be something." Maylu wondered aloud, but was replied with a head shake.

"Go on, all of you, go find the other Hikari boy so I can rest in peace." Shadowman urged them away.

"He's right we've got to go on." Roll said tugging Maylu away, "C'mon."

"Thank you for everything Shadowman." Maylu said before she turned away.  
Shadowman laid on his back and sighed after they had all gone. The room was silent until he heard a rustle and sat up to spy the doctor crawling for the door.

"Oh, no you don't." Shadowman muttered as he withdrew his sword and used it to hobble over to the crawling man who screamed as he plunged his sword into his back, "You….you….you stay dead."

A pool of blood formed around the man that had once been Dr. Grey, but now was a lifeless body. Satisfied that the threat was annihilated and his revenge somewhat complete, Shadowman allowed himself to slump to the floor and closed his eyes one last time before his data finally scattered and then faded.

Feeling as though the rescuing operation was nearing its end everyone rejoiced a little, but would later regret thinking so. For what lied ahead was a surprise all in itself.

** CHAPTER END**

_R.I.P. Dark Miyabi_

_R.I.P. Shadowman_

_Megaman: What the hell? Why are you killing off those two?_

_Spyrodramon: Oi! get back in my computer!_

_Megaman: Just wanted to warn you that there are going to be some angry fans after you._

_Spyrodramon hears the doorbell ring and looks through the peephole to see a massive crowd of Shadowman and Dark Miyabi fans waiting._

_Spyrodramon: Oh dear. O_O_

_R.I.P. Spyrodramon_

_Killed by angry fans for writing a fanfiction that consisted of killing said fans' idols. May this idiot find happiness in the afterlife. Don't worry she'll keep posting chapters even though she is dead._


	16. Chapter 16

** Chapter 16: Call me Superman**

"This way boys!" Maylu called over her shoulder as she neared the next turn.

Roll had returned to her PET so Protoman could use the copyroid to help Chaud limp along. They weren't sure if his leg was broken or not, but Megaman suggested they didn't chance it. All the while they trekked Megaman called for Lan telepathically non-stop.

"Lan please, answer me." Megaman begged, but heard nothing.

Thankfully he could still feel Lan on the other side, but for now it was just silence.

"sai…o…Saito….Saito!" Lan called faintly.

"Lan!" Megaman thought and noticed a feeling of worry, "What's wrong?"

"Be…..be…be ca….careful….I'm….I'm not me…" Lan murmured telepathically.

"Lan what do you mean?" Megaman called back, but received no answer, "Lan? Lan?! LAN!"

Lan went silent again and Megaman felt a tapping on his shoulder. It was Chaud tapping his shoulder.

"We could move faster if I use your shoulder also." Chaud said hoping to snap the blue bomber out of his daydreams.

"Sure." Megaman agreed and quickly allowed Chaud to use his shoulder also.

It was true that they indeed could progress quicker to their destination, but Megaman still felt distracted. Lan's warning had only one clue and that was somewhat unclear. He put his thoughts away as Maylu pushed at the door and huffed when she realized it was locked.

"Let me get at it." Megaman offered firing up his mega-buster and shot the door until there was no door.

Maylu jumped into the room first and called for Lan a few times before everyone piled in and she spotted him sitting on a table in the far right corner with his back turned. She dashed towards him her arms flung out to embrace him, but Megaman caught her before she could get much closer.

"Why did you stop me?" Maylu growled at Megaman fiercely.

Megaman shook his head and gazed at Lan's back as he spoke, "Something isn't right."

Maylu shot the others and Megaman a questioning look before Lan turned around and she gazed into golden slits instead of the gray brown she adored. She gasped and stumbled backwards a bit as she realized that Megaman had been right. The boy she loved dearly let out an evil cackle in a tone that didn't belong to him at all. A thought crossed her mind as well as Chaud's, but only Megaman dared to say it.

"Cache."

The golden eyed boy laughed even more as he observed them planting a cocky grin on his face.

"Which am I? Infamous or famous?" Cache jeered.

"Release my brother or I will force you to." Megaman demanded as his arm returned to being a mega-buster.

"How do you plan to do that?" Cache taunted as he pointed at the mega-buster, "Not going to shoot your precious kin, now, would you?"

Megaman cast his face downward so that shadows cover his eyes. He was truly at a loss on what to do this time, normally Lan had plans prepared, but this time they didn't know the enemy was within them. Well, except when it came to the battle against Megaman's own darkness; however, he always had Lan there to help him. Another thought sparked from this. Maybe he could do the same as Lan when he had problems fighting out his own darkness. He looked around the laboratory hoping to find the equipment that he needed and he spotted a pulse transmission chair. It looked a little dusty, but operational.

A sly smile spread across his face as he looked back to the golden eye brunette.

"You like playing mind games, right?" Megaman assumed, "Why don't we play one?"  
Cache was caught off guard, but he seemed intrigued, "What do you have in mind, boy?"

Megaman pointed to the chair as he explained, "That's a pulse transmission chair, it'll allow you to go into the cyber world. It's also the perfect opportunity for you to separate from that human and exist all to your own."

"I'm game." Cache said prancing over to the chair using Lan's memory to get it working, "Prepare yourself."

Megaman nodded and as soon as he was sure the machine was working he turned to the others to instruct them.

"Get Yuri here fast and when I give the signal we'll trap him in the network and destroy him by destroying it here. In the meantime find something to keep him bound to the chair unless I return and say that it's Lan." Megaman instructed as he opened a warp hole and then leapt through it.

"Let me go!" Lan snapped at Cache as the being held fast to the brunette's arm.

"Now I ask again." Megaman shouted gaining Cache's attention, "Release him or suffer!"

He had a Giga cannon pointed at Cache's head and fired several shots making Cache scream in pain as he threw up his hands to cradle what was left of his head. Lan made a run for Megaman.

"Megaman! Let's do Perfect synchro!" Lan suggested loudly as he ran.

Megaman nodded stood ready as Lan leapt into him and they were surrounded by a bright white light, when it dispersed there only stood Perfect synchro Megaman. By this time Cache had reformed his head and glared at the merged boys.

"You'll pay for that!" Cache snarled as he lunged at them only to miss and then lunge once again with the same result.

The game of lunge last for a good few minutes before Cache started throwing attacks. Megaman dodged them all and a few he hurled back. Cache was growing weak and impatient. Since he had no hold over his host's mind nor body his strength was waning and Megaman's was growing. Megaman may have been worn out from his battle with Diablo Nebulous, but by merging with Lan he was able to gain the energy he need to fight and win the battle.

"Alright I've had enough fun." Megaman said as his arm turned into the mega-buster and it began to charge, "This is your end."

He fired multiple shots all were spot on and when the dust clear Cache gave them on last glare before his data disintegrated and faded away to nothing.

"Glad that was easy." Megaman thought as they separated and walked to where Cache had once stood.

"Why didn't we try this earlier?" Lan asked throwing his arms up.

"I guess we all over thought it." Megaman suggested as he heaved a sigh, "Anyway I better head back and let them know it's over. You better go also."

"Right." Lan murmured as he stepped away and then began to fade before Megaman opened another warp hole and leapt back into reality.

"Cache is no more." Megaman assured the group as they unbounded Lan.

Once she made sure that his eyes were their original gray brown did she embrace her lover.

"Ouch." Lan grimaced a bit in the embracement and caused Maylu to release, quickly apologizing.

Suddenly Chaud's PET phone rang and a screen with Yuri on it popped up when he answered.

"Bad news for everyone, the building somehow caught fire and Spikeman has tracked to heading your way." Yuri informed them all, "You all better vacate now."

"We will." Chaud replied looking to everyone else, "Well? Let's get out of here."

Protoman helped Chaud hobble along while Maylu and Megaman offered their help to Lan who only pushed it away.

"I'm fine you guys." Lan stated as he stumbled along a couple of time he put a hand to the wall for balance.

The fire was raging in a few hallways so they had to take some detours to avoid it. Lan had to pause a few times making the other wonder what exactly he had gone through, but once he felt their gaze on him he returned to his steady pace. Soon smoke filled the air making it hard to breath so most tried using their shirts or a piece of cloth to cover their noses and mouths, but their eyes still stung.

Eventually they all had to pause for the sake of the humans.

"There's got to be an exit around here." Megaman murmured as he tried to see through the thickening smoke.

Lan and Maylu were a little bit behind Chaud, Protoman, and Megaman when Chaud's PET phone rang once more and Yuri appeared on screen.

"Just a little pre-warning that the dimensional area will be shutdown in ten minutes since the fire department is on its way." Yuri warned.

"We're almost out." Chaud lied feigning a smile between coughs.

"Hurry." Yuri said before she was cut off by the sound of part of the ceiling falling down splitting the group up.

"LAN! MAYLU!" Megaman called as he looked back and tried to run to their aid, but was held back by Protoman.

"Your help will be no good if you are trapped too." Protoman said as Megaman struggled in his grip.

"No." Megaman said finally loosening Protoman's grip, "You take Chaud on ahead. I'll find a way to get them out."

"You won't be much help in ten minutes." Protoman argued as he helped Chaud to his feet.

"No kidding." Chaud added as he slung an arm over Protoman's shoulders to use him as a crutch, "You'll return to being human."

"I will save them." Megaman growled as he charged onward, "I'll just detour around back to where they are."

Protoman went to yell after Megaman, but Chaud cut him off with a head shake. Protoman sighed heavily as he pushed onward helping Chaud along. Unfortunately the battery power for the copyroid was running low and Chaud was his first priority as his Netnavi.

Meanwhile on the other side of the rubble Maylu had been knock out for a bit and was now awakening to something liquid hitting her forehead every so often and a voice calling her name.

"Maylu?" Lan called calmly though his tone sounded like he was in pain, "Maylu are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Maylu opened her eyes and glance around and found that they were trapped under a ceiling panel that had nails jutting out in some places.

Lan wasn't too far from her and he seemed to be trying to hold up the panel from crushing them he was staring at her with worry. He was laying on his back pushing up at the panel sweat dripping off him. She felt a droplet hit her forehead once more and found herself lying on her side slightly. She rubbed her forehead and looked at her hand to find blood on it.

Noticing her panic Lan licked his lips to moisten them so he could tell her, "That's not your blood."

She gave him a puzzling look and then looked straight up to find a jutted nail pointed straight at her and she focused her vision she realized that the blood was dripping off the nail because it was stuck through Lan's hand. She realized that he must've caught the panel and tried to protect her from the nail.

"Oh my gosh, Lan! Your hand!" She gasped as she tried to scoot away from it, but there was hardly any room to move so she was stuck in place, "Lan….."

Tears formed in her eyes as she looked into his with regret.

"You're worth it." He said with his trademark goofy grin.

"Lan…..thank you." She murmured wanting to give him a quick kiss, but knew if she did he might lose his grip.

"Maylu, I'm sorry." Lan said his arms starting to tremble slightly, "I'm sorry you had to come and that now you are stuck here."

"Lan….I want you to promise me something." Maylu said wiping away a tear and sniffled, "Promise me you won't die."

"Maylu," Lan began turning his head slightly to face her, "You remember our promise of long ago?"

She nodded her head rubbing another blood droplet off her.

"We will always be together."

"Lan?!" Megaman called telepathically as he rounded a few corners and dashed down several hallways, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but hurry." Lan answered weakly making Megaman run faster.

As he rounded the last corner he nearly dove into the fire raging between him and nearing the rubble.

"Load! Bubble shot!" Megaman called as his right hand transformed into an aqua element gun and he fired water at the flames killing off the inferno that was raging towards the place his brother and Maylu were pinned under.

"Hurry, Saito!" Maylu called from under the rubble as Megaman pulled away rocks and wood paneling.

He saw Maylu's hand waving out from underneath a huge piece of ceiling panel that was slightly propped up on one side, but had a huge rock pushing on Maylu's end. He forgot to wonder how she wasn't being crushed as he pulled on her hand and dragged her out from underneath. She gasped when she saw that where she once laid slowly flattened.

"Lan!" She cried, but received no answer from him and resorted to helping Megaman pull off the rocks and cement pieces from atop the panel.

Eventually he pushed up the panel to allow Maylu to drag Lan away from it. Megaman noticed the wound on Lan's hand and sighed. Lan cocked his head and coughed with a grin.

"Idiot, you aren't Superman." Megaman stated coldly as he slung Lan over his shoulder and lead Maylu down the detour he had taken before, "Stay close."

While Megaman was leading his group to safety, Chaud and Protoman had just escaped and were watching the dimensional area dome dissipate as the fire department, the Net police, and several ambulances pulled up.

"Chaud." Protoman called to his netop pulling him away from his forethoughts, "The copyroid is just about to run out of power. I suggest you get to one of the EMTs."

Chaud nodded to Protoman as Yuri headed towards them slightly overhearing their conversation. She turned slightly to beckon one of the EMTs, but found they were already sprinting towards them. Chief Kifune and Manabe were among them.

"Where's the others?" Manabe asked as she came closer to Chaud.

"They are still inside." Chaud said between answering the EMT's questions, "The ceiling collapsed and Megaman went to go get them."

"Let's hope he found them and they are on their way out." Chief Kifune looking at the burning building prayed aloud, "God speed."

"Get some of your men in there!" Manabe commanded the fire chief, "We got three others in there alive still."

"Help is on the way." Chaud thought as he watched several firefighters charge into the building.

"The field is dissipating!" Maylu said between coughs as she noticed that everything wasn't psychedelic anymore.

Megaman groaned as Lan's body suddenly became heavier and he returned to being Saito.

"Ugh. Maylu could you help me out here?" Saito asked as he lowered Lan's motionless body down so he had one of his arm slung over his shoulder and then Maylu could sling the other over her shoulders.

A few more steps later and they heard voices calling out their names. Maylu and Saito called back and waved the firefighter to take Lan.

"This way kids." One of the men beckoned as he slung Lan over his shoulder as Saito had done earlier as Megaman, "This place is coming down fast."

They all sprinted to the exit the firefighters were ushering them to and made it out just before more of the ceiling collapsed down. Maylu and Saito looked back to watch as the building of horrors was engulfed in an inferno burning away the nightmares it once held, but they knew this wasn't the end of the dark organization Blud. Out there was more sinister leaders and followers of the organization and it would be a long while before they were eradicated. Although who was to say more evil would sprout from ashes since good and evil always needed to be balanced. A sad truth they all knew too well.


	17. Chapter 17

** Chapter 17: Agent**

"Any news at all Roll?" Maylu asked her pink Navi as she woke to greet the morning.  
Roll's hologram appeared on her nightstand next to the pink colored PET shaking her head.

"Sorry, but the only news I have is that spring break has started and Chaud needs you to meet him at the Net Police headquarters." Roll informed the dyed red head girl who now sat on the edge of her bed rubbing her eyes.

It had been five days since the fire and Lan was still in a coma in the hospital wing of the Science Labs special ward. Dr. Hikari wanted to have some tests ran to be sure that Lan was Cache free and to keep a close eye on him. Thanks to Lan, Maylu had very few wounds and they were just scrapes and bruises. As for Chaud he was hobbling around on crutches because the EMTs had found his leg to be broken rather than severely sprain as he had hoped. Saito had some wounds, but none were too serious to keep him hospitalized so now he stayed by his brother's side along with Haruka. Maylu would've been there with them too had Haruka convinced her that it would be best if she returned to school and the normality of her life. Everyone in the hospital room promised to inform her instantly of any change in Lan, but Roll had to convince her to not go every morning except for this one.

"They probably need my statement or want me to fill out a report." Maylu mumbled to herself as she dressed in her normal clothes.

As Maylu strolled down to the train station she gave thanks to the heavens for her much needed vacation time. Going back to school, while Lan and Saito were absent, felt weird and dull. She had tried to bury herself in homework, but when Ms. Mari questioned her about the twins' whereabouts and Maylu had given her a vague answer, she found herself staring out the window for the rest of the day.

Dekao took notice and asked Yai about it only to have Yai persist in questioning Maylu with all sorts of inquiries. After trying to give Yai the same vague answers and Yai not backing down, Maylu snapped. They were in their little group heading home when it happened. Maylu retorted at Yai and called her a nosy spoiled brat before she turned and ran all the way home nonstop. That had been just yesterday and Yai had tried to call her many times, but Maylu never answered the phone nor the messages Glide brought to Roll.

Lost in her thoughts she almost walked past the Net Police headquarters. Chaud was out front waiting at the top of the steps and waved to Maylu.

"So what's up?" Maylu asked as she came to stand next to the dual hair colored boy.

"Not much, just the chief wants to see you." Chaud explained as he hobbled into the building and nodded to the lady at the front desk, "She's with me."

"Besides filling out a report and giving them my statement, why else would the chief want to see me?" Maylu asked further as they stepped into the elevator and Chaud punched the button for the floor.

"I can't really say." Chaud said as the elevator went up to their floor immediately since it was just him and her in it, "This way."

He her led to the office with a big wooden plaque on the door titled, "Chief Commissioner Kifune of the Net Savior division." Inside Manabe stood at attention off to the Chief's right side as he sat at his desk organizing several papers and immediately stood to welcome Chaud and Maylu in.

"Thank you for coming down here today Ms. Sakurai." The chief greeted as he shook her hand vigorously making Maylu smile sheepishly.

"Please call me Maylu, sir." Maylu said sheepishly.

"Right, Maylu." The chief said turning around to pick up a piece of paper with a silver medal laying on top of it, which he took in hand as well, "For aiding us in the investigation of the Blud organization and rescue mission of Lan Hikari, I would like to commend you with this certificate award for doing a huge community service along with this medal so that you may let people know what you have done for us."

"Wow," Maylu began astonished at what she was receiving as she took the certificate and allowed the Chief to put the medal on her, "I didn't do much, but thank you."

"That's not all." Chaud added looking to the chief and Manabe, "Chief I would like to recommend Maylu Sakurai formally."

"Oh! Yes that's right." The chief said giddily as he returned to his desk and beckoned Maylu closer, "Maylu Sakurai as Chief Commission of the Net Savior division I would be honored if you were to join the ranks from a well garnished citizen to become an official Net Savior of my force."

"What?" Maylu stammered as she was slightly taken aback by the offer.

Manabe took the moment to speak, "Not only has Chaud Blaze and Ms. Yuri recommended formally, so has Lan informally though."

"Really? But I can't crossfuse." Maylu said looking down at her feet.

"Dr. Hikari is already working that out as we speak." Chaud stated as he hobbled closer, "Frankly we need someone like you on the force."

Maylu blushed and Roll appeared upon her shoulder respectfully bowing to Manabe and the Chief.

"I don't know what to say. Roll?" Maylu said as she looked to her pink Navi for some guidance, who only nodded Maylu on, "Alright I'll do it."

"Welcome to the force agent Sakurai." Kifune said as he pushed a small stack of papers towards Maylu gesturing for her to take them, "Manabe here will be glad to help you fill out the applications and get you through the process so tomorrow you begin your day as a Net Savior."

The application process didn't take too long for Maylu. She just had to fill out a few insurance forms after she read them thoroughly and understood them. One form she only had to initial since it was explaining her duties and the policies of a Net Savior, it even listed the benefits of being a Net Savior.

It was about lunch time when she finished and she was having Chaud show her to her cubicle that was diagonal to Lan's. Not much had been done with her cubicle since it was only decked out in the standard equipment for a newly appointed Net Savior. It had a comfortable computer chair, the latest in technologically advanced computer, an empty bulletin board, a small three drawer filing cabinet, a standard corded phone, and a built-in desk which her computer sat on.

"Decorate it however you wish, but just don't have it looking like Lan's mess over there." Chaud suggested as he hobbled over to his own cubicle, "Might want to work on your report of your first unofficial mission."

Maylu nodded and quickly booted up the computer making Chaud hobble back to her.

"I forgot to tell you that you won't be able to access your computer yet since you've only just joined the force. Sorry, but why don't you go on home and rest for now, believe me you'll need it, especially when Lan comes back." Chaud explained with a bit of a smile when he spoke of Lan.

"Have you heard anything?" Maylu quickly asked Chaud.

"No, bu-" Chaud managed before his attention went to two girls tussling towards him.

"What do you mean you have company business with him?" one voice sounded like Anetta.

"Me?!" the other sounded like Yai, "What about you seducing him with your little picnic of horror?

The two girls had been battling each other over who would get Chaud ever since Anetta met him. Maylu rolled her eyes and shook her head not saying a word since she didn't want Yai to take notice of her. So she sat back in her chair and watched Chaud blush from embarrassment and at the two girls both trying to pine for him. The stopped their wrestling when they realized he was watching and pretended to be innocent.

"I hope you didn't forget about our picnic." Anetta said flashing a smug smile at Yai.

"If he did it's because of our business dinner we're supposed to have in an hour." Yai growled more at Anetta than at Chaud.

He sighed and rolled his eyes as he spoke to Yai first.

"I told you that IPC has no interests in your little league company." Chaud informed Yai calmly.

Anetta stuck out her tongue at Yai as soon as he had said that. Proud that Chaud seemed to only have eyes for her. Although Chaud was easily annoyed by Yai he still couldn't forget that time with the elevator, but Anetta had won him over this time. Yai stuck out her bottom lip at Anetta and glumly turned away. Maylu tried to stifle a laugh at the scene, but didn't catch it in time. Yai looked to see that the laugh had come from Maylu she became shocked.

"Maylu what are you doing here?" Yai instantly asked ignoring the fact that Maylu had just laughed at her for acting immature.

Maylu instantly stood up and gathered her things ignoring Yai. Yai grabbed onto her arm daring not to let go.

"Maylu please, what's wrong?" Yai asked once more trying to hold the taller older girl back from escaping her.

Maylu fought her grip and eventually threw Yai off her arm and glared at her before she stormed out. Chaud and Anetta stood back with their mouths open in surprise. Yai sat where she had been thrown tears dripping down her cheeks.

"Why?" Yai begged silently.

"Maylu what was that all about?" Roll asked as Maylu walked briskly along the sidewalks.

"I don't want to talk to her and I have grown tired of her antics in nosing her way into my business about Lan's and my relationship. There are just some things friends shouldn't dwell into." Maylu explained to Roll as she walked every which way unsure of where to go.

Maylu knew if she went home that Yai would only be there waiting with Dekao. She wanted to head for the Science labs too, but remembered Haruka's promise and detoured away from it. Her PET phone rang and she angrily turned it off. She stopped at the park and sat on a bench angry at the world for not having a place for her to run to get away from everyone.

"Roll?" Maylu finally said calmly.

"Yes?" Roll answered timidly.

"Send Yai a message saying that there are some boundaries that she is crossing and I would like to be left alone for the time being." Maylu told Roll looking up at the sky.

"Anything else?" Roll asked once more.

Maylu sighed and replied, "Yes, check to see if there are any messages about Lan's condition."

Roll nodded and disappeared for a few minutes before returning once more shaking her head.

"None, but Saito needs to take Haruka home and wants you to spend some time with Lan." Roll said a little bit cheery.

Maylu wiped off her tears and stood slinging on her jacket since the breeze had turned chilly.

"Gladly." She murmured as she put up her hood and stuffed her hands into her pockets to keep them warm.

The wind bit at her nose even more as she walked making her sniffling even worse. She was glad to find herself inside the special hospital ward finding her way to Lan's room where it was much warmer. Even though it was spring time there was bound to be cold days as well as warm ones.

She found Lan's room to be empty of people and guessed that Haruka and Saito had left some time ago. She smiled at the generosity of Saito giving her a chance to spend some alone time with Lan. She pulled up a chair next to Lan's side with the undamaged hand. It felt like she had come in to wake him up for school or to go hang out maybe have him take her on a date, but this time he wouldn't wake.

"Why do you have to play Superman?" Maylu whispered to him as she stroked his hair, "Silly Lan."

She sat her PET on the nightstand and then laid her head next to his arm careful of the I.V. she place his hand on her head and cried slightly. She then held his hand hoping that the touch would maybe bring him back, but instead she found herself falling asleep as she was. She was worn out from holding back tears and only then to have them spill and she was tired from the constant avoidance of her friends. All she had wanted that day she didn't know until she was given the opportunity, all she wanted was to be by Lan's side, she with him alone.

** CHAPTER END**

_For awhile I was afraid that this would be the last chapter, but then as I mulled over what I needed to do with the story I realized it would take several more chapters. So be on the look out for chapter 18!_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Operation**

"Hey, Chief." Chaud said as he tried his best to give a respectful bow, "What is you wish to ask my opinion about?"

"My questioning pertains to Lan Hikari's status as a Net Savior." Kifune stated dryly, "I'm worried that since Megaman now no longer needs him as a Netop would he be equipped enough to continue on as a Net Savior."

"Manabe what are your thoughts?" Chaud dared to ask the Chief's secretary.

Manabe was caught off guard by the question and then simply stated, "Lan's a good Net Savior no doubt that his skills match Chaud's, but when Chaud lost Protoman to the dark side we still counted on him."

"My thoughts too and as of now my status should be in question too." Chaud said gesturing at himself, "I would believe that for now we call in some back up and demote Lan Hikari to private citizen status to protect him so he may recover faster."

"Well said." A voice stated causing everyone to whirl around, except for Chaud who had to awkwardly hobble around.

"Laika, what brings you here?" Chaud asked the older teen.

"Well," Laika began, "When I heard that Japan's top two Net Saviors solved a huge case, but ended up mostly hospitalized I figured I would come assist. Least I could do for my friends."

"Well we are glad to have ya!" Kifune welcomed the man from Sharo cheerily.

"Laika." Chaud said as he hobbled to Laika's side, "There are a few others I need you to assemble and such if we are going to finish this case."

"Finish it? What do you mean?" Laika asked clearly confused, "The message said the Japanese organization Blud had their base of operations destroyed and they had all been arrested."

"Yeah, the Japanese base was destroyed, but intelligence suggests that this is a global organization deeply rooted into society as we know it." Chaud explained further, "This case is hardly from over."

Laika eyes widened at the seriousness of the younger teenager and then headed for the door.

"Well I'll go assemble our supposed dream team then, that way we all can get the whole story straight the first time." Laika said before he took off.

Kifune and Manabe were taken aback slightly as they realized once more or as the chief put it, "Sometimes I wonder if I am in charge of these operations or rather my subordinates are more in charge than I am."

"Sorry chief, just leave the investigation to me and Laika also the others we bring in." Chaud said finding himself sounding exactly like Lan, "I will warn you some of them might be citizens that have not shred of experience in police work, but I assure you that they can get the job done."

"I'll put you in charge of it right away then." Kifune said as he picked up his phone to make a few phone calls and watched proudly as Chaud hobbled out of the room.

"Once again we leave saving the world to kids." Manabe mumbled to herself as she picked up a stack of papers and then proceed to organize another stack.

About three hours later the huge conference room was filled with people both Laika and Chaud had called in. So far the ones gather in the room consisted of Dingo, Princess Pride, Raoul, Tamako who had followed Raoul, Charlie Airstar, Ms. Yuri, Tory Froid, Yai, Dekao, Anetta, Torakichi, Shuuko, Nenji, Jasmine, Ran, Mr. Higsby, and Misaki. Chaud and Laika were both trying to calm everyone down as they awaited the arrival of Dr. Hikari, Famous, Manabe, and Chief Kifune. It had been a long time for some of them since they had all gathered and now here they were.

"Please everyone can I have your attention!" Laika finally managed to yell out over the crowd gaining their attention at last, "Thank you. If you could remain quiet while Dr. Hikari and Mr. Famous explain that would be great."

"It would be great if there was no need for formalities when it comes to my name." Famous said from the doorway with Dr. Hikari, Manabe, and the chief not too far behind.  
Once they were set up and ready to begin Dr. Hikari gave Famous the nod.

"Right, can I have everyone's attention once more!" Famous called to them all and spoke once more after he had their full attention, "The reason you all have been gathered here in Japan is because the Net Saviors have a big case that needs solving and unfortunately one piece of the puzzle has only just been resolved, but it has left our capabilities at a standstill with two of our top Net Saviors either in the hospital or wounded just as so."

Yai raised her hand immediately and waited until Famous saw it.

"Oh! Yes?" Famous said pointing to Yai politely.

"What of Lan? Should he be here working this case too?" Yai asked hoping to get a straight answer.

Famous looked to the Chief and Manabe for guidance on the matter, but Chaud took charge of answering the blonde's question.

"Currently Lan is on private citizen status meaning until he has recuperated he will not be aiding in this case. In fact any leak of the investigation we are doing now to Lan and you are kicked from the team." Chaud stated as he glanced over them all.

"What about Saito and Maylu? Are they working on this case too?" Dekao quickly piped up.

"Saito? Who is Saito?"

Some of the others got in an uproar about asking each other who Saito was and it took a while to calm everyone down. Dr. Hikari took the podium now and sighed a bit before he addressed everyone in the room.

"I realize that most of you gathered here are good friends with my son and I would hate to tell a lie to all of you who trust him so well." Dr. Hikari began, "Long ago my wife and I had two lovely boys, twins they were, Lan was one as for the other we named him Saito. Unfortunately our happiness didn't last too long when at 18 months later Saito was diagnosed with the deadly disease HBD. He didn't live for very long after the diagnosis."

He paused for a moment to wipe his eyes before he continued on.

"Lan barely remembered his brother so my wife and I decided to hide the fact from him to save him from the grief, but as my research on strengthening relationships between netops and their netnavis came to a standstill at the same time of Saito's death, I realized I could in a way save him. I converted Saito's DNA into digital data and encrypted it into the being known as Megaman. Through Megaman my son, Saito continued to live and later when I gave him to Lan he would discover they had a bond that went beyond Netop and Netnavi. They got to keep their brotherhood and go on to achieve things such as perfect synchro and cross fusion. About a couple of months later when I had Lan bring Megaman to come test out my latest PET invention and accident happened that was the first time Blud attacked, but we will get to them later. Somehow a miracle was achieved and Saito was reborn and now lives and breathes as a human. So to summarize it all Saito is Lan's reborn brother."

Everyone was blow back by Dr. Hikari's story that they were all very silent. Some had heard the story vaguely, but most had never even given a thought to the possibilities. Dr. Hikari decided that if he told them the story this far he might as well explain everything else he had discovered with Saito.

"Although Saito is a human he can go back and forth between our world and the cyber world. He also seems to possess the ability to manipulate electronic devices even as a human." Yuuchiro explained further, "He is also able to perform cross fusion with the use of the Rush synchro chip to become Megaman once more to warp between worlds. As to whether if Saito and Maylu will be participating in our investigation is to be determined by Chief Kifune."

The chief nodded to Yuuchiro and then turned to Chaud to say, "What's your say? You're the one in charge of this."

Chaud closed his eyes for a second in thought as everyone stared at him with anticipation.

He finally spoke, "Saito Hikari and Maylu Sakurai will be working on this case as well and will be sworn to secrecy. Although it might be difficult for Saito to withhold the information due to Lan and his telepathic abilities, none the less, we need Megaman's help on this."

Laika stood and walked to the podium to ask the gathered group one final question, "Now before we get too deep I would like to ask all of you once more. This investigation may take some time to complete and consume a lot of yours so are you all ready to take on the biggest case known to the Net Savior division?"

Instantly they all nodded or said yes in different phrases, but in the end it was agreed they would all dedicate themselves to completing the mission. A few felt like they owed it to Lan while others knew it was their duty to fill in the shoes. Chaud hobbled up to the podium and then began to explain their mission.

"The reason you all were called together today was to inform you of a huge threat that has made itself known and is global." Chaud began, "There is a new evil syndicate that has taken the name of the Blud Organization. Dr. Regal of Nebula worked alongside of the Japanese branch leader until his untimely demise. Dr. Wily is also believed to have ties with the Blud Organization. It seems their motto is Blud will reign and they are not easily trifled with. They are unlike the people we have fought against before and after some of us had become official Net Saviors. They captured Lan, killed Dark Miyabi and Shadowman. From our first invasion of their base we gathered some rather shocking data. This organization is as old as the Net itself it seems and have hidden bases spread out in every country. Most of the people we arrested from Japan's Blud base were corrupt officials and some even dangerous crooks who were convicted of very huge crimes. Now if you will all listen closely I have a list of jobs to assign you each. First are Higsby and Shuuko."

Both the dyed purple haired girl and the chip shop owner stepped forward and nodded to Chaud respectfully acknowledging his commands and listening for his instructions.

"I'm pretty sure that there are dark chips out there still in the market and I want you two to investigate this and find out who buys them and where they go. It will be difficult, but with the aid of the Net Police and my resources I believe you both can succeed." Chaud encouraged as he explained their job.

"Anything for Lan and Megaman!" Higsby said with a fist pump, "We owe it to them, right Shuuko?"

"Of course." Shuuko said with a bit more determination than before she glance at Tory and winked making the boy blush a little.

"As for anyone else in here owning a business I suggest you do similar investigations to see how close the enemy is and where they might be." Chaud said to the rest of them.  
Charlie raised his hand and waited until Chaud nodded for him to speak, "So you are asking us all to investigate the black market of our trades then? Good idea, but how do you know that we can track down this Blud Organization by just investigating the black market?"

Laika spoke this time in Chaud stead as the younger boy took a swig of his water bottle to moisten his dried throat, "The black market isn't just a way to sell goods, but if you can navigate it correctly it becomes a search engine. As for your other question, it's because these people need supplies and if they want to go unnoticed they'll only do business on the black market."

Chaud recapped his water bottle and set it down on the podium before he looked over to  
Raoul and said, "I have a special assignment for you and a few others."

Raoul nodded and asked, "What is it you'll have me do?"

Chaud beckoned the dark man closer and then handed him some papers with a folder of enclosed profiles.

"Blud is not only after Lan Hikari and me, but they are after some in your country as well as some others." Chaud explained and then gestured to Torakichi and Tamako to come forward also, "What you have there is a list of people they seemed to be after or they wanted to recruit. You three seem to have a knack for spotting gifted netbattlers so I'm sending you to track down these people and recruit them for our cause or at least warn them."

Raoul handed some papers to Torakichi and Tamako before they stepped back into the group and then Chaud called forward Ms. Yuri, Misaki, and Anetta.

"I was hoping I could count on your past with Nebula to perhaps try and get recruited by the organization. Misaki and Anetta shall provide the help you need." Chaud instructed them before they too stepped back.

"Yai do you think your father's company will be able to join IPC in helping fund this project?" Chaud asked the blonde directly.

Yai gave her classical whimsical smile and answered, "Of course anything they need I'll be happy to assist in any way."

He looked to Princess Pride next, her soft blue eyes gleamed with confidence as she listened to Chaud.

"Pride I need you to provide intel on any political figure that might have a connection with Blud. I'll be sending Ran and Jasmine with you to provide assistance." Chaud said after taking another swig of his water bottle, "Next Tory I need you to use your father's influence to do your own research and have Dekao help you."  
Tory nodded his face now normal since Shuuko was winking at him.

"As for you three, Charlie, Dingo, and Nenji I need you three here until Lan and I are back on our feet and able to fulfill our duties are Net Saviors. Temporarily you will be given our duties and provided temporary Net Savior badges. Along with Saito, Maylu, and Laika you will be Japan defense while some of us recover." Chaud continued wearily as he leaned on one crutch looking them all over, "I don't know how long this operation will take us, but one thing is clear our goal is to rid the world of Blud terrorism and we will eliminate that threat no matter how long it takes us. I would like to personally thank you all for gathering here today and accepting such an immense task. I wish you all luck."

Chaud started to hobble away when someone from the crowd called out, "Should we give this operation a name at least?"

Everyone look to see that it was Yai who had spoken up and they all looked to Chaud for his answer. Chaud looked at Yai for a moment and then noticed all eyes were on him. He hobbled back over to the podium and glanced back to the chief who only gestured for him to speak.

"What is your suggestion for the name then?" Chaud asked.

Yai was silent for a moment as she thought and then when it occurred she instantly spoke with enthusiasm in her tone, "Let's call this Operation Shooting Star. After all we are all shooting for the same goal so why not?"

"I like it." Pride piped in.

"It's very creative and unique." Ran added.

"Well I see nothing wrong with it. Besides we do need to call it something to simplify our references." Misaki agreed.

They all looked back at Chaud as he wearily nodded.

"Then let's begin, Operation Shooting Star."

**CHAPTER END**

_Yep I just threw in some thoughts into the melting pot. This isn't just a fanfiction this is my to tribute to the anime that introduced me into anime. With the EXE series I first saw and watched the anime, when it ended I found the Manga while I also bought the games. _


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Coping**

Two hours had gone by since Maylu had fallen asleep at Lan's motionless side and now the faint voice of Roll calling her name awoke her.

"Maylu?" Roll called faintly.

"Mmm…five more minutes please." Maylu moaned forgetting where she was.

"Maylu, I thought you might want to know I have some messages from Dekao and Yai, also while you were asleep Saito called." Roll informed Maylu as she yawned and stretched.

"What do the messages from Dekao and Yai say?" Maylu replied twisting the kinks out of her back from sleeping in an awkward position.

"Yai's message was: I'm sorry for pushing you away and you are right in saying that I crossed some boundaries. I guess being a nosy spoiled brat I tend to forget what boundaries are. Please forgive me." Roll read making Maylu feel guilty about all she had yelled at Yai, "Want me to reply to that?"

"For now no." Maylu said as she watched the monitors connected to Lan, "What does Dekao's say?"

"Dekao message says: Sorry for acting like Yai and nosing my way into your business." Roll read once more.

"Simple as always." Maylu chimed with a sigh.

"I guess you want to wait before you reply to his also?" Roll asked timidly.

"Yeah, so what did Saito call about?" Maylu replied looking at her Navi.

"He won't be returning here until tomorrow morning." Roll summarized.

"Oh." Maylu uttered looking back at Lan wondering if Saito was trying to play matchmaker like Yai used to, but she dashed away the thought.

She decided to stand up and walk around to awaken her aching muscles and sleeping limbs. Her stomach grumbled indicating that it was empty so she dug around in her pockets until she found a few a few zennies that would get her a snack from the vending machines. She thought to take her PET, but decided against it and went on out of the room down to where she saw the snack machines at.

She stared at the machines for a bit trying to figure out which snack she thought would be best for her.

"Mind if I jump ahead of you." a familiar voice from behind her asked.

She turned around to find the green soldier of Sharo standing behind her with his expression empty as normal.

"Laika?" Maylu asked, "Why are you in Japan?"

Laika nodded to the girl and step forward to put in his money to one of the machines and have a sandwich drop down. She felt like he was ignoring her, but she kept an eye on him for answers.

"Could I speak to you for a bit before Chaud returns?" Laika asked straight up kind of catching Maylu a little off guarded.

"Uh….sure. What is it about?" She replied following the older teen to a couple of empty chairs.

Laika sat down after Maylu did and then began to explain why he had come to Japan and the current operation he was helping Chaud with. He also explained her job in the operation and that she must never reveal the plans to Lan until Chaud deemed him able to help with it.

"Wow, this is major." Maylu said after Laika had finished and took a bite of his sandwich.

"Chaud told me about your heroics against their first battle with the Blud Organization. I must say I am impressed and hope in the future you'll impress me more. Chaud and the world are counting on us." Laika told her giving the girl a quick rare smile, "Chaud knows you can do this job and I'll be working with you also."

"I know, but why do you want to keep it a secret from Lan. A secret is what got him stuck in a coma to begin with." Maylu said slight irritation in her tone.

"Chaud is the head of this operation and his orders were that until Lan fully recovered, he would be demoted down to a private citizen for his own protection." Laika explained calmly, "He thought that would be best. I agree that there are too many secrets being kept from the boy, but that should be expected with a job like his."

Maylu could only nod for she had to agree that Laika was right and that perhaps it was best that Lan be left out of the loop. She stood up and nodded to Laika and walked back to the room Lan was occupying since she found her hunger to be no more. She walked with heavy thoughts and a single prayer for Lan's quick recovery.

"So this is where you wandered off to." Chaud said as he hobbled up to where Laika still sat.

Laika brushed the crumbs off his lap and stood to greet the younger boy.

"So what did the doctor say?" Laika asked wondering if he should get a wheelchair for Chaud, "Would you like a wheelchair?"

"I guess since the doctor said it was mostly exhaustion and I need to stay off my feet more if I want this to heal faster." Chaud replied dryly.

Laika went around the corner for a moment to find one and then returned with a blue wheelchair in which Chaud sat down in and held onto his crutches as Laika pushed him around and about.

"Sorry, but I had to make sure you weren't totally copping the same attitude and habits as Lan." Laika stated with a small smile knowing that Chaud couldn't see it.

Chaud sighed heavily as he traced his thoughts to the brunette, who was currently in a coma.

"Great, just what I need to be doing." Chaud mumbled after a moment, "Acting like him is going to get us nowhere. Though I hate to admit it he does have some charisma otherwise we would have a group this big working on a project this huge."

Laika didn't know whether the boy was thinking aloud or actually talking to him so he listened just in case and as it turned out Chaud was talking to him.

"After all the hell he went through do you think he's changed?" Chaud asked turning his head to look up at the older teen face.

Laika raised one eyebrow and focused his gaze ahead as he paused to allow a few nurses and doctors to rush past as he mulled over his answer.

"Well," Laika began as he pushed the wheelchair forward once more and headed for the elevators, "I don't know the exact details of how he was tortured an such, but I can assure you that knowing him as long as I have, he'll bounce back."

Chaud place his head on his hand as he went back to facing forward and returned to his thoughts. Laika was right about Lan always bouncing back from such situations, but this time something was different and Chaud couldn't quiet place his finger on it. He had to contact Dr. Hikari later and ask him a few questions before he set up his plan of making such the brunette would bounce back as Laika had put it.

"Where to sir?" the limo driver asked as Chaud and Laika piled into the back after Laika had returned the wheelchair to the hospital.

"First head to the Hikari residence and then we'll go back to Science Labs." Chaud informed his driver as he laid his crutches down.

Laika looked at the driver and then to Chaud a little bit confused.

"Why visit the to the Hikari household?" Laika asked as they pulled away from the hospital wing special ward at Sci Lab.

Chaud propped up his broken leg and then turned his head to face the soldier of Sharo once more as he answered him, "We need to fill in Saito on our operation still."

"Wouldn't he be at the hospital with his brother?" Laika wondered aloud for Chaud to hear.

Chaud shook his head as he replied, "Last I heard, Saito went home with his mother and they are still there."

"Oh." Laika murmured as he went silent once more.

Laika had yet to meet the new human yet they had known each other when the boy had been a Netnavi. Now things were different and he was wishing that Lan was better so that they could deal with the threat better and maybe make meeting Saito easier. It seemed to him everyone was missing the brunette's presence in all the occurring action. He was even more surprised to find himself thinking this and fortunately Chaud stirred him from it after the car had stopped in front of a blue colored house in the suburbs of Dentech.

"Hey, Laika?" Chaud asked nudging Laika a bit in the shoulder, "Wake up we're here."

Laika snapped up and blushed with embarrassment as he opened the door and then offered to help Chaud out, but Chaud shook his head and clumsily hoisted himself up out of the limo and then hobbled awkwardly up the steps. Laika walked ahead and rang the doorbell.

Laika had to blink several times since he thought it was Lan who had answered the door not the strange boy that stood before him now. He looked over the boys features finding them more like Megaman's looks than Lan's. The only real difference he found was that his hair and eye color were more like Lan's hair and eyes and his skin was a little bit darker than Lan's. He half expected the boy to be wearing Lan's normal wardrobe or something of similar taste, but found that instead he dressed more normal than his brother.

Chaud noticed Laika was staring at Saito and decided to get the introduction over with as he said, "Laika, this is Saito, Lan's twin brother."

"Hi." Saito said to Laika with a polite bow and ushered them in.

Laika returned the polite bow and then with Chaud, he followed Saito to the living room and sat on a couch while he went to make some tea. They were all silent for a while until Saito spoke first.

"So why am I getting a special visit from you guys?" Saito asked as he took a sip of his tea and watched the others do the same.

Chaud held his cup so the tea would warm his chilled fingers as he explained all about Operation Shooting Star and that he wasn't to let Lan have no clue as to what they were all doing.

Saito looked down at his lap having his bangs mask his face as he listened, even then after Chaud finished explaining he remained silent. Chaud waited a bit figuring Saito was letting it all sink in, but Laika didn't wait.

"Saito?" He called to the boy saying his name for the first time since entering the Hikari residence.

"He won't speak to me." Saito stated finally earning quizzical looks from Chaud and Laika, "It's not that he refuses to speak to me, but he's just so far gone I can't reach him."

A tear fell into Saito cup of tea making a small plink sound as it hit the surface. Laika and Chaud looked at each other worried at what Saito could be suggesting and also that their earlier comments about Lan always bouncing back could be off.

Laika looked back to Saito and sat his cup down on the table and folded his arms neatly  
before he asked, "Saito you needn't worry about Lan so much. Plus we shouldn't give up on him so easily since what he went through is beyond our imagination."

Saito looked up his eyes red as he tried to hold back tears as his voice cracked, "My mom had to drag me out of the hospital last night because I almost used my manipulation ability on the machines there. She was worried that I would make his condition worse. Then it hit me."

Saito looked at them both as he paused to sniffle and set his own teacup down and sigh.

"Lan hasn't been himself ever since the day I started school. He's been pushed down a dark path and that is why I think Cache was able to gain control of him. I couldn't see all of the torture he went through, but I fear it was worse than what I saw. You saw the wounds he had Chaud. There was more on him than what I had gained when I reestablished our connection."

Chaud looked down at his cup and watched the steam rise out of it for a moment as he gather his thoughts to bring them to words.

"Saito." Chaud began wondering if it was right to inform Saito of his plan for Lan, "I planned to ask your father this, but I wonder now if you feel the same idea come to mind."

"What are you asking?" Saito questioned Chaud, clearly intrigued.

"When Lan comes out of his coma I thought it might be best if he talks to a psychiatrist.

I'd be happy to recommend one." Chaud states plainly his expression willing to help.  
Saito laughed a little before he spoke once more, "Yeah, good luck getting him to cooperate with one. He hates shrinks, why do you think he never visited the one we were supposed to regularly for work. It's not a bad suggestion though. I'd hate to go against him on it, but I think father would agree too."

Laika and Chaud relaxed a bit as the brunette with them became more cheery in his demeanor.

"Well I'll go ask your father about it before I make the call then." Chaud said picking up his crutches and hobbling a bit towards the hallway before stopping to let Saito get the door ahead and allowing Laika to take another sip before grabbing his coat, "Thanks for the tea by the way."

"Yes. Thank you." Laika added quickly before Saito waved goodbye to them and their limo took off.

"That was close." Chaud said as the car turned a corner, "I was afraid he would start bawling and we'd be the ones playing comfort doctors."

"He does have some right to be upset." Laika stated as he looked out the window and noticed the sky darkening for rain, "Of course you and I wouldn't understand since we have no siblings to worry about."

Chaud sighed once more and looked up at the sky watching the rain drizzle down onto the window. Laika was right about one thing and that was he would never know the feeling of having siblings. He pulled out his red PET and Protoman instantly appear via hologram.

"Yes?" Protoman asked promptly.

"Send a message to Dr. Hikari asking if I could assign Lan a shrink for when he wakes up." Chaud commanded and watched the red Navi disappear inside as he made out the message.

"Lan is the last person I would know to see a shrink or any person of that trade." Laika commented not caring if Chaud heard him or not.

Chaud smirked a bit at the thought and then nearly jumped in his seat when the red Navi appeared once more.

"I sent the message and he replied instantly." Protoman said as he cleared his throat to begin quoting the reply, "I know Lan would hate to see one, but I just got a message from Saito and I have to say yes. I would like to thank you for this. You do too much for my family sometimes though."

Chaud smiled at the last bit and told Protoman, "Send a reply that the psychiatrist Lan will be seeing is one that we can trust and that confidentiality takes total priority. Also tell him no need for the thanks and that his son has helped me out of plenty of scraps."

"Yes, sir." Protoman said disappearing once more.

Laika looked to Chaud questioningly, "So I take it we won't need to head for Sci Labs?"

Chaud smacked his forehead as the realization came into ploy and then told the driver to head to Net Police Headquarters.

"Don't you think that we should move Operation Shooting Star to a more secure building? Not to say that the Net Police Headquarters have a faulty security, it's just that wouldn't it be more precautious." Laika asked.

"It's a good idea, but I would just waste our time trying to find a place to sanction it and then get all the necessary hardware and try to put up the best security. Plus we would be taking the same path our enemy is in going underground." Chaud explained before Protoman reappeared once more, "So it's all set?"

"Yes." Protoman said with a nod.

"Next thing then, any messages for Operation Shooting Star?" Chaud asked grimacing at the name a bit since he hadn't yet grown to like it.

"Yes. Three to be exact, but not much progress it seems." Protoman informed his Netop.

"Okay, well, read them to me anyway." Chaud ordered Protoman leaning further back in his seat.

"First one is from Raoul. He says they have just landed in Amerope and are on their way to the closest person on the list you gave them." Protoman quoted, "Next is from is from Ran saying that Princess Pride's investigation of Brightland seems to be going well and they have found a few leads, but are unsure if they 'real' leads. Last one is from Higsby stating that they have successfully integrated into the black market undetected."

"Interesting." Laika muttered wistfully.

Chaud yawned and then said, "Progress is progress. Tell them all good work and tell Ran they should only go after solid intel."

Protoman nodded and disappeared once again. Laika looked to Chaud wondering if he should just head home for the day, but he kept his thought locked in knowing the boy wouldn't heed to his suggestion. The boy was pushing himself too much and he knew it had to be because their number one Net Savior was in a coma so he felt like it was all on him.

Laika sighed inwardly as he watched the rain bombard the lively city. He wondered how the others were faring in spite of it all, but he would never truly know.

**CHAPTER END**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Trinity**

It was late in the day and the streets were starting to lose the vigor of people that treaded on them. A lone girl with dark brown hair, almost black, rode her bike down these roads careful to not hit any of the people still out and about at this late hour. She stopped at a street corner to catch her breath and take a swig from the water bottle that docked onto the bike. Her shirt was a deep purple with sleeves that only reached to her elbows and from there her arms were covered with elbow length fingerless gloves of lavender. Her pants were black skinny jeans and her boots were a dull grey.

She pushed over her bangs revealing her dual colored eyes of a dull sapphire and a brilliant evergreen. She adjusted her hair once more to provide cover for her dull sapphire eye so people wouldn't stare needlessly at her. She replaced her water bottle back into its dock and then pushed off to the crosswalk silently cursing her clumsiness.

"Myra?" a voice called from the brown basket hitched to the bike, "I told you to put the drain plug in before you put on your contact."

The girl looked down at her basket and scowled before looking back up to watch where she was going.

"Can we please quit with the silent treatment for today. I'm getting bored." The voice spoke once more making the girl sigh harshly, "Oh, I got a message from Maggy. She says dinner is ready and you need to come home."

"Tell her I'm almost home, Wildcat." Myra said finally as she wheeled around a corner real tight onto a road filled with family owned businesses some were run down while others were just managing.

A few moments later she arrives at a flower shop named Beautanical Gardens and goes down a small alleyway between it and the other buildings to a side door. Since the door is well locked she pulls out a key from her pants pocket and opens it, pulling in the bike too. It's a small room in which she stores her bike and shoes before she heads to the kitchen she takes the gray colored PET from the bike basket.

"I'm home." Myra announces as she wanders into the small kitchen and is greeted by two other girls both varying in age.

The older girl of twenty-three stands near the sink fixing up another plate, meant for Myra. Her forward bangs are tinted with a dark blue color almost navy blue, but the rest of her hair is that of glossy brown. Her outfit consisted of a pastel green shirt with pink flowery graphic flowing across her chest. Her eyes are a dull green and her skin is a lighter color than that of Myra's, but Mika by far is the most fair skinned of the family. Mika, a young girl of nine sits at the table wearing a bright red dress with gray socks, her hair is a blonde color with reddish ends. She smiles at the arrival of Myra and runs to hug her.

"Oof, hi Mika." Myra greeted the younger girl as she returned the embrace and then they walked over to the table.

"Glad to see you're finally home." The young woman at the sink says as she brings over another plate filled with vegetables and a piece of beef lay neatly next to it.

"Why did another virus come up in the system again?" Myra asked as she took the plate and then took a seat next to Mika at the small table.

"Maggy." Mika murmured gesturing for the young woman to come take a seat.

Maggy smiled warmly at the little blonde and sat down before she replied, "No, Flora and I can handle a virus and nothing happened today, except I couldn't get Mika to go to school today."

Myra watched Maggy shoot Mika a stern look before she spoke between her bites, "Who can blame her? I wouldn't want to go to school if it meant someone was going to try and take me."

Maggy sighed harshly and Mika cast her face downwards not taking another bite of her food. Myra just rolled her eyes at her older sister's lax nature.

"Well what am I supposed to do? I can't always play parent for you two." Maggy growled mostly directed her words at Myra.

"Don't look at me like it's my fault they're dead!" Myra growled back throwing down her fork and leaving the table abruptly.

"Myra!" Maggy called after, but didn't dare go after her.

It was neither of the sisters faults that their parents died too soon. The fact had been that someone was after Myra and Mika, but their parents made sure they stayed with them even changed their will so that only a trusted family member would keep them from the men that pursued them. 'They' had killed their parents.

"Myra you shouldn't have yelled at your sister like that." Wildcat scolded the fourteen year old.

Myra threw her bed sheets over her head hoping to cast away the words of her Netnavi. She was afraid for Mika more than for herself. Mika's ability made her special so special that the men wanted her more than they were after Myra. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she buried her face deep into her pillow so her sobs would be softened for she wanted no one to know how much of a crybaby she was.

The next day she made sure Mika made it to her classroom before she pedaled off to her school. As she rounded a corner tightly she accidently rammed into someone who caused her bike to flip over and she found herself flung into some boy's lap.

"OUCH!" the boy cried out quickly sitting up and pushing the bike from atop them.

"Sorry." Myra quickly apologized gathering up her backpack and PET before setting her bike up.

The boy first spoke in Japanese and then when he realized she was giving him a funny look he tried Netopian by accident.

"Uh do you speak English?" Myra inquired calmly for the boy looked like he was a regular  
Amerope, but then again there were people who left the country and raised their kids elsewhere.

"Sorry been to so many countries that I forget which language is spoken where." The boy said with a wry chuckle, "Anyway that's okay I shouldn't walk so close to walls when it comes to corners."

"Myra!" Wildcat's voice sounded from the PET in her hand, "You gotta get to school."

"Oh right!" Myra said looking to the boy and then to her bike.

"You got school don'tcha? Well go on I'll be fine." The boy said fixing his wool cap and arranging his brown hair so it fell out from underneath the hat correctly.

Myra nodded and leapt onto her bike pedaling faster than ever.

"Torakichi." A voice called and the boy pulled out a chess themed PET and then a hologram of his Navi appeared before him.

"Kingman was the name, Myra, on the list?" Torakichi asked his Navi.

"I believe so." Kingman said looking past Torakichi at where the girl once stood, "Shall I send Tamako and Raoul a message."

"Yeah tell 'em that we can stop searching this town. We've found our first lead." Torakichi commanded as he bent down and picked up a little wallet, "Better get this returned to its proper owner."

Several hours later Myra solemnly pedaled off to Mika's school.

"Maybe you dropped it when you ran into that boy from earlier." Wildcat suggested as Myra cursed herself.

"I'll check it after I pick up Mika." Myra murmured to her Navi as she parked her bike in the bicycle rack before she went into the school.

Mika sat at her desk stuffing papers and supplies into her backpack, she was one of the last kids still to be in the room when Myra arrived.

"You ready?" Myra asked the little blonde.

Mika nodded heavily as she slung her red backpack onto her shoulders and followed Myra out to the bicycle rack and waited for her to unchain it.

"I kind of dropped my wallet before I made it to school today. Do you mind if we go look for it?" Myra asked pulling out her bike and sat on the seat patting the cushion strapped down to the small carryon panel over the back wheel.

Mika nodded once more as she positioned herself on the cushion and clung onto Myra as she pushed off. Little did they know two guys in black suits were watching them and plotting, from their car just parked outside of the school parking lot, where Myra rode out from.

However they weren't the only ones watching the girls as they went down the road.

"This looks like the place." Myra said slowing down her bike to a stop and allowed Mika to dismount first, "Here hold on to this while I take a look around."

She looked about the ground and underneath the bench nearby, she even looked down into the gutter before she sighed and gave up.

"Well it's gone. Great." She muttered as she walked back over to Mika, "Alright let's go home."

"Maybe the boy took it by accident or maybe he's at home handing it to Maggy." Wildcat decided to suggest her hologram appearing and she scanned the area.

The Navi was more beast than humanoid in form. Her helmet was the head of a cat opening its mouth, but it merged more to be her face rather than a helmet. She had very thin armoring it mostly congregated on her chest, elbows, knees, and some on her shoulders.

Her body was more cat-like than human especially with her cat tail swishing around every time she moved to keep her balanced. Her coloration was shades and tints of gray, but her armoring was a watery blue. Her golden eyes traced the area, but sadly found nothing.

"So anything?" Myra asked after a moment.  
Wildcat shook her head and turned back to face Myra, "Sorry for wasting your time."

"No you just wanted to be sure." Myra told her Navi as her hologram disappeared and she returned to the PET.

"Actually you should be sorry." A gruff voice said from behind them.

Myra and Mika whirled around to find two buff men in black suits and sunglasses smirking at them. Myra glared at them and went to stand protectively in front of Mika.

"Mika get on the bike and go." Myra commanded her sister as the men edged closer, "Don't look back until you see home."

Mika was hesitant, but complied as one of the men tried to leap at her, but missed. Myra knew she was no match for the men, but Mika took top priority and she kicked the guy trying to grab Mika and dodged the other trying to grab her.

"Wildcat!" Myra called out to her Navi, "Full synchro!"

"Of course!" Wildcat said letting out a vicious roar and Myra felt the transference of skills and strength.

"Catch her." One of the men said as they both tried to leap at her, but only to have her miraculously leap atop the fence and run along it.

She was only a little ahead and tried to see if Mika had gotten away before she slipped and fell off the fence.

"Ouch." She groaned as she landed barely on her feet.

"MYRA RUN!" Wildcat cried as one of the men grabbed her arm while she was slightly stunned.

"Let me go!" She yelled trying to wring her arm out of the steely grip and then resorted to kicking, but that didn't help much.

"Quick get the chloroform!" the man with the grip called to the other, "Now stop wiggling!"

He gave Myra a good punch to the face making her lip bleed and her eyes tear up.

"Now that wasn't nice." A voice from behind the man stated.

It was the boy from earlier except he had company with him. A dark skinned man and a navy blue haired chick.

"Mind your own business like the rest of this town." The man holding Myra retorted.

"No, how dare you hit a girl." The navy blue hair chick growled, "We're warning you once. Now let her go."

Myra was surprised at the three of them, but she didn't hesitate to use her chance to wring her arm out of the evil man's grip and take off a few feet. The man tried to catch her again, but was thwarted by the dark skinned man taking a death grip on his suit.

"Actually we need to ask you a few questions." The dark skinned man stated as he yanked the man backwards and gave him a punch to the face as he did so.

"Hey!" the man's partner in crime shouted as he came running up to stop them, but was hit in the head with a piece of piping the boy had managed to grab from earlier.

Myra watched the spectacle as it unfolded. She was astonished at how well the stood up against these men and then laughed as one of them ran from the fight. The navy blue hair woman walked over to Myra with a gentle smile on her face.

"Are you okay?" the navy blue haired chick asked sincerely concerned, "He punched you pretty good."

"Yeah I'm good. Thanks by the way." Myra said slightly confused as to why they were helping her.

"No problem. My name is Tamako and later my friends and I want to talk to you about these bimbos chasing after you." Tamako said.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Myra asked sternly.

"We want to stop these men." The boy explained, "Also I believe we are on the same side."

"We can help you stop them from coming after you for good if you help us." Tamako further explained hoping the young girl would listen to her.

Myra thought for a moment before she came to her decision.

"Fine. Follow me." She finally said her gaze still stern as she looked to them and then strode on.

Later after some explaining on Tamako, Torakichi, and Raoul's part did the three sisters decide to spill their secrets. They had also tied up the man Raoul dragged in and were waiting for him to wake up before the questioning began.

"So why would they be after you two?" Torakichi decided to ask.

Maggy looked at Mika and Myra with slight worry and sighed as she turned to face the other three.

"They hardly know the truth of it so I'll tell you why." Maggy said solemnly before she began the long explanation, "The reasons those people are after Myra and Mika is because they both are very special, but in the respect of supernatural abilities."

"We've seen plenty of weird things and such so don't worry about us wiggin' out on ya." Torakichi assured them.

Maggy nodded and then continued, "The reason they are after Mika is because she can see the boundaries between our world and the cyber world. She can spot gateways that lead to our world and in reverse the cyber world. 'They' came to my parents offering a huge sum of money for her, but they refused so 'they' killed my father and mother. We don't their name. As for Myra they are after her because she is the key."

"Key?" Myra asked clearly confused, "Key to what?"

"It's the reason you have one blue eye, it's the reason you can perform Full synchro. You can borrow someone's abilities, talents, skills, and even their memories."

"What?" Myra murmured still shell shocked.

"I'm sorry Myra, Mika, for never telling you. Mom and dad made me promise not to tell you until you were ready."

Mika stood and walked over to Myra grabbing her hand as if telling her it would be alright, but Myra yanked her hand away fearing the truth of it all.  
A groan from the other room called to their attention that their suspect was awake and ready for questioning.

"Do you mind if we do a little interrogation?" Raoul said speaking for the first time in a long while.

"Sure, mind if I join you?" Maggy said with a nod, "I want some answers too."

They all walked into the other room where they had one of Myra and Mika's attacker tied up. He glared at all of them as they entered the room and sneered when Myra walked in. She shot him a glare and then looked down at the floor.

Raoul spoke to the man first, "Who is it you work for?"

The man spat on the floor and grinned, "Think I'm just going to break down and talk?"

"He has a point." Tamako added irritated.

"Let me try." Myra said taking a step towards the man still glaring at him and him glaring back, "I'll just borrow his memories."

Maggy thought to stop her, but was held back by Mika who shook her head when they made eye contact. Myra stepped a little closer and then reached out with one hand to touch the man's sweaty forehead.

"Want us to hold him down?" Raoul asked stepping forward, but was stopped when Myra shook her head.

"No. I might accidently borrow yours." She said before turning back to the man, her blue eye glowing slightly as she initiated her ability.

A few seconds she awoke on the floor laying on her side. She groaned a little as she went to sit up and almost vomited. Maggy was at her side helping her to stand as was Torakichi.

"I'm fine." She murmured weakly, "I just need to sit down for a few minutes if that's alright."

She glanced at the man she had just borrowed memories from and found his body to be devoid of motion. He looked dead and she dared to wonder if he really was as she was sat down on a metal chair. Maggy noticed where Myra was gazing so she place herself in Myra's line of sight to the man.

"Listen to me Myra." Maggy began her voice slightly shaky as she spoke, "That man isn't dead because of you. He died because he took a cyanide pill we weren't looking and you fainted because he cut off the connection that way. Just relax for now okay?"

Myra felt tear rise to her eyes, but she forced them back with all her might and just took in deep breathes. Torakichi bent down and gave Myra a pat on the back.

"Ya did good." He commented with his silly grin making Myra blush a bit.

Raoul nodded to Tamako and spoke some Japanese to her telling her to contact Chaud and let him know they had made some progress. Tamako nodded and went to the other room to make the phone so her Japanese wouldn't disturb them. Raoul returned to focus his attention on the young girl and ask her a few questions.

"You're amazing, but I must ask you…..Do you know who he worked for?" Raoul said trying to smile warmly.

"Yes some organization called Blood I think. I could also you lead you there if need be." Myra replied tiredly.

"So it is them." Raoul said stand up and rubbing the sweat from his forehead, "Yes, we might have to go to the bowels of this beast."

Torakichi glanced up at Raoul and then spoke in Japanese as he asked, "Are sure we should take them? Don't we need back up? What if Chaud wants us to hold out for an even bigger plan than taking them out one by one?"

Raoul replied in English, "Torakichi calm down and I suppose we should wait for Chaud's orders first."

"Raoul!" Tamako called from the other room, "Chaud wants to talk to us all."

Torakichi shrugged and then followed Raoul into the other room with Maggy and her sisters tagging along. Tamako had her holographic screen up with Chaud's face looking in on them all. Chaud decided to speak in English for their conversation so everyone would understand all that he was saying.

"Hello, my name is Chaud Blaze of Japan's Net Savior force and I would like to thank you for helping in our investigation of an organization called Blud." Chaud said in greetings to the three sisters.

"Blood?" Maggy murmured in wonder.

"Actually it's Blud with no O's, but a U instead." Tamako quickly explained so Chaud could continue on.

"This organization has a list of people they are after or they want dead. I sent these three out to track down all on that list, hopefully to recruit them, but mostly to warn them. So I'm going to give you two choices. You can forget about all this and go about your life or you can join us in destroying the terrorism Blud presents. So what'll it be?" Chaud went on.

Maggy looked at Myra first and then to Mika, wondering about which choice would be better for her family.

"Maggy, I say we help them, that way I know the scoundrels won't be coming back after Mika or me." Myra told her older sister.

Maggy sighed and then asked Mika if she agreed with Myra. Mika nodded her head making Tamako wonder why the little blonde girl hardly ever said a word.

"We'll do it. We'll help you." Maggy finally answered the boy with black and white hair.

"Well, welcome aboard and I must thank you for your help, we need all we can get." Chaud said and then directed himself to Tamako, Raoul, and Torakichi, "Don't attempt an attack on their base yet. Find the others on the list and then once you found all the people on the list and everyone else has progressed nicely, then we will make our attempt. Am I clear?"

"Yes." Tamako, Raoul, and Torakichi said at once.

"Same for you three." Chaud said directing his words back to the three sisters, "Although might I learn your names?"

"I'm Maggy." Maggy stated and then looked to her other sisters and pointed them out as she said their names.

"Welcome to Operation Shooting Star." Chaud said before he cut off the connection.  
Tamako, Raoul, and Torakichi had their orders as well as the sisters. They were to move on, but what about the sisters?

"I guess it's a good thing Spring break is three days from now." Maggy said with forced chuckle.

"Well," Torakichi began to say, "I guess we all head out in three days."

"Good." Raoul added in, "You sure you're alright to tag along with us, Maggy?"

"Duh, of course." Myra piped in, "We all leave for wherever you guys need to go. By the way where are you going to head to?"

Raoul looked to Tamako who sighed and pulled out a couple of papers to screen through them.

"Heh, looks like we got three brothers to visit next on the list." Tamako stated, "They are just several towns over it seems."

Maggy walked over and looked over the paper Tamako was holding and then said, "Actually that's halfway across Amerope in Edge city. Got anyone closer?"

Tamako handed Maggy a few more papers and Maggy passed some to Myra to look over. A few minutes of looking and Myra found something.

"Actually the closest person would be this boy, Leon. He's in Smallville which is much closer to where we are now." Myra said handing Tamako the paper.

"She's right." Tamako said pulling out her PET, "Send a message to Chaud for me, Heavymetalman. Tell him we found our next person of interest and will leave in three days so the sisters can travel with us."

"I'll get on it." Heavymetalman replied before Tamako replace the PET into her pocket.

"Now it's all settled." Torakichi stated with a grin.

Torakichi was right, but not everything would be as easy as pie.

**CHAPTER END**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Rights and Wrongs**

Deep in Netopia, Yuri and Anetta awaited Misaki outside a public restroom in a park. Anetta sighed and Yuri was starting to grow impatient.

"It shouldn't be taking you this long." Yuri said into the men's room doorway irritated, "What's the hold up?"

"Well," Misaki began his voice somewhat distant, "It's just…..is this really a necessary idea? This outfit is ridiculous and it isn't even me!"

Anetta rolled her eyes and said to Misaki, "That's the point. Your outfit before screamed you weren't worth recruiting and besides this Dr. Wily 'dude' might recognize you as a Net Savior agent and get the word out."

Anetta and Misaki were the only two of the group in need of an outfit change so they would blend in and hopefully fool Yuri's old friend Dr. Wily into recommending them to the Blud recruiters. Anetta had her hair dyed to a darker color of orange almost red-orange now, she had also gotten contacts making her eyes emeralds, her outfit was a lot skimpier than what she was used to, but if they were going to fool the evil man they had to get out of character a little. She now adorned a blue spaghetti strap, her earrings were rings the color of coal, her ponytail had been lowered, her lipstick was now a darker shade of what she normally used, she wore green colored kapris, and black high heels. Yuri kept her original apparel since she didn't need to put much effort into fooling the man she was raised by.

Misaki finally stepped out of the bathroom and sighed heavily as Yuri gave him a smirk.

"You totally don't look the Misaki that just walked in their thirty minutes ago." Anetta commented with a laugh.

"Well I'm glad you totally can't recognize me." Misaki said sarcastically and then turned to Yuri, "This is the first and only time I'll let you pick out a wardrobe change for me."

Misaki eyes were now a dull brown due to his contacts, his hair had been dyed black and was slicked down giving his left eye a bit of shade, her wore a black leather jacket over a gray shirt with a white tiger graphic on it. He wore black jeans and a pair of brown hiking boots.

"If the bangs make you uncomfortable, try wearing this head band." Yuri said offering a red hair band to Misaki who hesitantly took it and put it on so his bangs didn't hang so far down over his eyes, "Actually maybe we should get you a haircut."

Anetta laughed and Misaki sighed heavily once more and his posture became slouched as he realized his misery was just getting started.

"Fine let's get me a haircut." Misaki grumbled as he walked towards the town.

"No need to find a barber." Yuri called out to Misaki as she grinned in spite of his attitude, "I have scissors and it shouldn't take long."

"Really? I think I'll go to a professional." Misaki said with a scowl at the scissors.

"The barber might accidently wash out the dye though." Anetta added standing up from the bench she had been sitting on while waiting for Misaki.

"Fine." Misaki mumbled walking back over to Yuri like a puppy to lion.

A few moment later after much grumbling and muttering from Misaki as Yuri clipped his hair from within the men's room, he stood back out with his hair way different from before.

"There now the headband works a lot better doesn't it." Yuri said putting the scissors in her knapsack.

"I….look….ridiculous!" Misaki said in a depressed tone.

Yuri just laughed and walked casually past him beckoning the two to follow.

"Cheer up, Misaki." Anetta told the older man, "At least you look remotely nothing like yourself from before."

Misaki allowed his shoulders to slouch even further and his whole posture showed his lack of confidence in those words. He tried to focus his thoughts elsewhere or on some different topic perhaps. He thought back to his memory of the Dr. Wily profile the Net Police had and began to wonder why the old evil man was still alive much less living in Netopia now instead of Japan. Maybe it had been to escape the police since he was always aiding and abetting criminals after he had retired from his world domination scheme. Even if he had hinted Lan and Chaud to solve some crimes he was still considered a threat and wanted by the Net Savior force.

"I hope I'm not stuck with this disguise until I die." Misaki thought to himself.

After an hour of walking and taking several subway transits they came to the dismal outskirts of a city known as Astropolis. The inner city was flourishing rather well money wise, but here in the outskirts were small fading towns that had been merged into the city perhaps to give them at chance at success, but it was a failure of a plan. The towns were crumbling and some of the homes looked abandoned even.

Misaki wondered if this is where the mysterious Dr. Wily now hid himself. Yuri confirmed that idea as they strode down one of the streets of ravaged looking small houses. The neighborhood looked scary from the start, but became crueler as the trekked further.

Finally Yuri stopped at the smallest house on the block and strode up to the door that had two hoodlums standing guard outside. One of them went to block Yuri's way and started asking her questions in Netopian, but they were stopped when a yell erupted from the house and they both stood back to let Yuri, Misaki, and Anetta pass through. Misaki let a sigh of relief escape him as he entered the rundown house that in some parts was crumbling. They eventually came to a sort of Japanese styled living room and in the middle sat a fatigued bald man.

"Dr. Wily." Misaki murmured in astonishment at what the old man had now been reduced to.

"Yuriko." Dr. Wily spoke in Japanese, "What brings you here? You aren't trying to sell me out to the Net Saviors are you?"

Yuri shook her head and proceed to sit down in front of the old man and then beckoned Misaki and Anetta to do the same.

"No, sir." Yuri said her tone kind and gentle, "I came here because my interests in joining another dark syndicate have returned."

"Ooooh." Dr. Wily murmured looking over Misaki and Anetta carefully, "What of these two?"

"They came with me and have the same wish as I do." Yuri half lied, "Would you help in recommendations?"

"Well…..I suppose so." Dr. Wily said returning his gaze to Yuri, "Who is it you want to join up with?"

"I believe they are not well known, but I know you had ties with them at one time." Yuri explained, "They are called the Blud organization."

Dr. Wily cackled for a bit before he replied in English this time, "Of course I'll give them a recommendation for your employment, but your friends must prove themselves to me first."

Misaki and Anetta glance sideways at each other and then back to Dr. Wily as Misaki dared to ask, "How do you want us to prove ourselves?"

Dr. Wily coughed for moment and then replied, "I need you both to do a task for me. I want you to steal an artifact for me, it's known as the eye of darkness."

"Why do you want us to steal it?" Anetta dared to ask, but regretted it after she had spoken.

Dr. Wily coughed once more and glared at the girl with unease, "You want to join this Blud organization or not?"

"Yes we do sir." Misaki replied quickly with a deep bow.

"Good now you have a time limit of twenty-four hours." Dr. Wily said with a smirk waving them away, "Good luck."

Later when the three of them were a good distance away thus the complaining began.

First was Anetta who complained, "I thought you said we would easily get recommendations from this guy!"

"How are we going to find this Eye of Darkness object without Netnavis." Misaki moaned quietly.

Yuri shook her head and rolled her eyes before she told them, "Don't worry I got supplies for that issue, but you won't like what I give you."

"What?" Misaki murmured as he was handed a silver colored PET and Anetta was handed a dark green one.

They both peered into the PETs' screen and gasped at the Navis lingering on the screens. Anetta glanced at Yuri and then back to the PET screen.

"Plantman?" She murmured.

"You are my Netop?" Plantman asked with genuine hope in his tone.

"Cosmoman?" Misaki mumbled in shock.

"Shall we thwart our opponents together?" Cosmoman asked with his hands on his hips expecting a prompt answer.

Yuri watched their shocked faces and then decided to explain herself, "I managed to save their frames and turn them into genuine Netnavis that will work for you two."  
Anetta looked back to Plantman and smiled thinking back to Silk slightly, "I guess."  
Misaki thought of Prisman and the darkness they encountered, but he shook his head and then looked back at the PET screen with a brave face.

"Hello partner." He said to Cosmoman, "Ready for our first assignment together?"

Anetta looked to Yuri with wonder as she asked, "Is it okay for you to be helping us with the task Dr. Wily gave us?"

"Yes, but I'll only provide the necessary guidance." Yuri replied removing her sunglasses as the sun was setting now.

"Let's not waist another minute then, tell us what we should know." Misaki said standing confidently.

Yuri smiled at Misaki's new found confidence and began to explain all she knew, "The Eye of Darkness isn't just some artifact, but an ancient battle chip. Long ago Dr. Wily was commissioned by an army general to create a special battle chip. Dr. Wily made it even though battle chips weren't his specialty and the general took it without paying him a zenny. I believe the general passed away before he could make use of the chip and it became lost to Dr. Wily. I don't know exactly why he wants it back, but it's all I know."

"Wow, no wonder the old coot is so world domination bent." Anetta commented.

"Well it just means our search is going to be slightly harder." Misaki said as he trudged on ahead, "Come on let's go find a database to plug in at and do a topic search and see what we come up with."

"Right." Anetta chimed jogging a little to catch up.

Yuri smiled and followed after. Fifteen minutes later they came to the better more flourishing parts of the city and easily found a café to plug in at. Now Misaki and Anetta awaited their Navis after sending them to search for a lead on their task. The three of them sat at a table each with a different drink. Yuri was sipping tea, Anetta was drinking a slushy, and Misaki was downing a cup of coffee.

"Do you wonder what he wants the chip for?" Anetta decided to inquire of the other two's thoughts on her question.

Yuri took another sip of her tea as Misaki voiced his opinion, "Don't know exactly, but probably for some plan he's cooking up or a scheme of some sort. What do you think, Yuriko? Why'd he call you that?"

"It's the name he gave to me after he found me. As for what he might want to do with that chip I have no idea. He may have raised me, but I have no clue what goes on in that mind of his." Yuri stated casually.

"Okay here's another question. How did you get these Navis and then turn them….good?" Misaki went on with the questioning.

"Dr. Regal had their frames copied and saved to a data disk in case the worst should happen or should he gain enough knowledge to build an army of copied Darkloids." Yuri explained, "I stole and copied it data when Laserman became the Darkloid leader, when I realized Lan was going to need my help I recreated the frames minus the darkloid memories and well undid their evil personalities. Now they are only Netnavis devoted to their Netops. I figured they would be useful sometime."

"Anetta?" Plantman called with slight joy at having a Netop in his tone.

"Misaki?" Cosmoman piped up.

"What did you guys find?" Misaki asked as the two Navis became projected holograms that stood on the table.

"Well," Plantman began his face all smug, "Apparently the Eye of Darkness battle chip is on display at an army Museum. It's not too far from this city actually it's the next city over, Matron City."

"Good work." Anetta praised her new Navi with a smile of pride making Plantman blush a little.

"Did you research which museum and how we could steal the chip?" Misaki asked in a hushed tone unused to doing devious deeds.

"Yep." Cosmoman answered this time, "Except this won't be a typical theft. Normally stealing this thing would take weeks of planning and preparation, but I got a plan."

"Good idea, but first we gotta get there." Plantman added snidely.

"He's right." Yuri said taking her last sip and then gathered her knapsack.

Misaki grabbed up his shoulder bag and Anetta picked up her alligator backpack to strap it on before they left the café. They then headed for the nearest train transit that would take them all to Matron City, but not before sending a message to Chaud about their progress and also their newly appointed Navis.

"Good work." Chaud complimented them all while holding back a laugh after he saw Misaki, "Also I might be able to make it easier for you to get your hands on that chip."

"How so?" Anetta questioned with a head tilt.

"I believe IPC has some acquaintances that would be helpful to attaining the chip. I'll give them a call here soon after." Chaud explained with a yawn since it was early in the morning for him.

"Sorry about the early morning wake-up call." Anetta said with a look of concern as she realized he was fully dressed and in his office at IPC, "You should be resting so your leg can recover much faster."

"I know, but it's been really busy here and I have Laika working with me too." Chaud stated rubbing the back of his neck slightly.

"How's Lan doing?" Misaki asked interrupting Anetta's conversation with Chaud, "Is he still comatose?"

Chaud heaved a heavy sigh as he looked to Misaki from on the screen and replied, "His physical wounds are healing quiet well I hear. However his hand is another story and I am unsure about the recovery they plan to do with it. Unfortunately we all are still waiting for him to wake up and annoy us all to death. Anyway I got to go file some reports. Good luck."

He cut the connection before Anetta could say a farewell, but she understood. His best friend was in a coma, he has only a broken leg, and he was heading a major investigation operation. She figured her flirting would have to wait now. She then began to wonder how Maylu was doing, but dashed it away as Misaki read a message Chaud had sent.

"He says his buddy will meet up with us at the museum and personally hand over the battle chip." Misaki read.

"This'll be a quick trip then." Anetta said with hope.

"You both are still good on time that we won't be cutting it close if it all goes along smoothly." Yuri commented.

"Let's just hope this all works out." Misaki uttered looking out the window of the train.

For the rest of the trip they spent it looking out the window wondering about many different things.

About forty-five minutes later they arrived at a train station in downtown Matron City. Misaki looked around hoping they could spot the building, but soon gave up hope.

"Plantman?" Anetta called making her navi appear on her shoulder via hologram, "Got any directions to the place?"

Plantman nodded and pointed straight ahead as he relayed his GPS directions, "Yes, go about three block and make a right to go down four blocks and then make a left. You should see it by then."

"Alright, come on let's get going!" Anetta said to the other two beckoning them onward.

Soon they stood at the doors of the museum resting a bit before they went in. Once they had they were met by a ginger haired man who handed them a box the size of a chocolate bar and waved them away. Surprised by the quickness of it all they tiredly wandered back to the train station, but not before peering into the box. Anetta was the first to see and hold the ancient battle chip.

"Wow it's so darkly colored." Anetta commented as she held the chip up for the others to get a look.

The design was slim like the battle chips before the invention of the Link PET. Its bluish grey tint was darker however and the graphic display an eye with a red iris and yellow tint to the white. The background behind it had a small navi with the eye appearing over its forehead and dark purple swirls emitting from the eye surrounded the navi as if to enfold it in darkness.

"Wow." Cosmoman murmured in awe as he stared at the chip.

"I wonder what it does." Misaki pondered aloud his hand reaching for the chip, but was grabbed by Yuri so as to stop him.

"Are you an idiot?" Yuri asked sternly, "We should use it nor should we do anything else with it beside giving it to Dr. Wily. Remember the task."

Misaki realized her truth in this and sighed briefly as she returned his hand to his side.

"She's right we should get going." Plantman added in.

Anetta return the chip to its box and then place the box in her purse. Now that was done all they had to worry about was returning it on time. Not that they had to rush since they had thirteen hours left, but they wanted to get those recommendations soon enough. Only then would they feel closer to their goal. Closer to success, at reach of victory.

**CHAPTER END**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Whiplash**

Maylu let out a long yawn as she sat down to face the stack of papers awaiting her at her desk. Chaud said the job wasn't easy and Lan always complained of having to do reports, but she now regretted teasing Lan about the reports. Now she was swamped with them and how the stack had gotten so deep was unknown to her, but she was a little relieved when Charlie noticed her yawning and the stack.

"Here, let me take some of those." Charlie said grabbing at least a third of the stack and gave a smile to Maylu as he went to his temporary desk to work on them.

Nenji and Dingo just walked in for the shift trade, but they were earlier than usual. Maylu quickly set herself to work as the two boys waved hello to Charlie and her before heading to the Chief's office. She wanted to finish the paperwork as soon as possible so she would have time to swing by the hospital. Every day, Maylu tried to finish her work early on in the day so she would have time to see Lan and perhaps make it there just after Haruka and Saito had finished visiting for the day. Saito was being carefully watched by his mother and was never left alone in Lan's room since he had made several attempts at trying to manipulate the machines.

At the request of Dr. Hikari, Chaud had swamped Saito with Net Savior cases as best as he could, but since his new found abilities gave him an advantage at doing the paperwork part of the job he always got his cases finished quickly. Maylu yawned once more and then felt a tap on her shoulder making her turn around. It was Dingo who had gained her attention.

"Do you know how late it is?" Dingo asked, "Go home and rest."

"No." Maylu said looking back to the slowly decreasing stack, "I'm almost finished. Don't worry I'll be fine."

Dingo thought to say more, but Charlie stopped him and so Maylu was left alone to her work. A little later she began to ponder as she was finishing her stack.

"I wonder how the others are doing? I wonder if they all feel this swamped?" Maylu thought.

Meanwhile back in Brightland Princess Pride was thinking similar thoughts. She had just finished having her people interrogate five suspects who were all guilty of having ties to Blud. They were old politicians from Darkland. Ran was suspecting that Darkland itself may have ties to Blud and the Princess was starting to wonder the same thing.

Jasmine entered the room the Princess sat in all solemn. Ran had been poisoned by one of the suspects and all day Jasmine had been working on an antidote, but the Princess was distraught with worry. Pride was sitting on the edge of her bed in a crème colored nightgown and in her hands she tightly held a blue bandanna with a familiar navi mark on the middle of it. Her blonde hair fell all over the place since she hadn't bothered combing it. Jasmine went and sat next to the Princess.

"Ran's doing fine now. Don't worry in a week she'll be back to her silly self." Jasmine informed Pride trying to cheer her up.

Pride sighed and looked into Jasmine's dark brown eyes trying to feign a smile, but a tear rolled down her cheek returning her back into the sobbing she had done before.

Jasmine then took notice of the familiar blue bandana Pride used to try and wipe away her first throng of tears. Even though it was late in the evening and the light in the Princess's room were all turned off, the moon still provided enough light to illuminate most of the room.

"There, there." Jasmine murmured patting her back in comfort, "I got to ask, is that Lan's bandana?"

Pride calmed herself down enough to utter, "Yes."

"Lan wouldn't want you crying now would he?" Jasmine said trying a different way to cheer up the Princess.

"No….I…guess not." The princess muttered between sobs still trying to regain her composure, "He would probably give us all, his goofy grin and say it will be alright."

"Yeah." Jasmine murmured, "Don't you worry about Ran now. Just rest for the night and we'll continue the investigation after you wake up tomorrow okay?"

"Thanks Jasmine." Pride said giving the younger girl a hug before she climbed into her bed and watched as Jasmine left the room closing the door gently.

Pride turned to lay on her side and began to pray from under the covers.

"Please make Ran better. It's my fault she is in her current predicament." She prayed, "I know Lan is in your hands right now, but could you return the little angel to us. We all miss him and I just want to be able to see his face full of that goofy grin of his."

She paused as her eyelids grew heavy and the warmth of the bed lulling her to sleep. She was also worn out from the crying. She soon found it hard to think and then found herself dreaming. In her dream she was with Laika riding around in the snow of Sharo and they were laughing. Suddenly Laika stopped and once they got off the snow mobile they were in a field of wheat near a tree on a patch of grass. Next to the tree was a picnic basket in which Laika pulled out the contents after he placed down a checkered blanket. She giggled at the scene and for the rest of the dream.

Back in Japan things were different and far from the happiness of the dream Pride was experiencing. Maylu had finally finished her stack of papers and was quickly making her way to the hospital. She hoped she could convince the nurse to let her spend the night this time. The fact was she had tried to make it to the hospital, but most of the time when she did make it the visiting hours were over, tonight though she had time on her side.

She had made it thirty minutes prior to the visitation deadline. She praised herself and as she walked into Lan's room all chipper.

"Hello, Lan." She said to the brunette knowing full well he wouldn't answer, but she had gotten bored of staying silent around him so she would strike up a conversation with him, "Finished my reports early enough to come see you. Chief Kifune sure has me busy since you're gone, but it's nothing Roll and I can't handle."

Silence was all she received as an answer, but she kept the conversation going.

"Yai and I haven't talked in weeks, but then again we both have been busy."

She hesitated, thinking about Yai and wondering if their friendship was falling to pieces. She shook her head and tried to think of other things to talk about, but they wouldn't pertain to Operation Shooting Star in any way. She had been careful all these weeks and she wasn't going to slip up now.

She gently ran her hands through his hair that the hospital had just washed recently. It was standard for them, but Maylu had to admit they did a better job at washing his hair than Lan himself. She giggled at the thought as she adjusted his brown locks. Tired of standing she pulled up a chair and kissed his cheek before she sat down and held his undamaged hand. She watched his chest rise and fall as she spoke to him hoping he would answer back at some points.

"I really wish you were able to answer me sometimes, but you are still recovering I hear. You so owe me a date when you get out of here. I'm not sure where exactly, but I was thinking of that theme park they have up north. Just you and me, no Netnavis either. I would love for it to be just us for a whole day. Us…..together…forever…..just as you promised."

She stopped herself to wipe away a tear and sniffle a bit. Suddenly she felt a tight squeeze on her hand that was holding Lan's and she looked to his face. It contorted into a grimace as he choked slightly on the tube they had put down his throat to give him air.

"Okay, Lan relax and…could you give me back my hand. I'll get the nurse faster if I have it."

Lan's eyes snapped open and he immediately released her hand as he struggled with the tube.

"NURSE!" Maylu yelled into the hallway and soon the nurse on duty came and then went to call the doctor.

Soon the room was filled with nurses and several doctor so Maylu stood out in the hallway awaiting for when she could return to the room. A single nurse came out to talk to her.

"How are you related to Mr. Lan Hikari?" The nurse asked Maylu.

"I'm his girlfriend." Maylu stated standing herself slightly taller to the woman.

"Well you should go home, sweetie. It's been a long wait and for now we have him sedated so he can rest properly. We will contact his parents in the morning. You can come back with them if you wish." The nurse informed Maylu.

"Please, just let me stay the night with him. Please just this one time." Maylu begged the nurse over and over until the woman caved in.

"Fine, but only this time." The nurse said with a heavy sigh, "When all the doctors come out you can go back in, Okay?"

"Thank you so much." Maylu praised.

About fifteen minutes went by before the room was empty enough for her to wander back in.

Lan was slowly slipping under the effects of the drugs they gave him, but he was still aware and reached for Maylu when she took her seat next to his side. She took the hand he reached with and he squeezed it as tight as he could.

"Don't go." He whispered to her for he feared if he fell back asleep again he wouldn't wake, but he didn't want her to know that so he only asked that of her before he slipped away to a drugged slumber.

"I won't leave you Lan." She whispered back noticing that his grip on her hand hadn't loosened at all, "I'll be right here when you wake."

Roll watched from her PET and then once Maylu had fallen asleep she slunk away. She headed to Net City to go for Lan's Homepage from there. She wanted to see Saito since the last time they got to speak to one another was so long ago. She hurried down the streets hoping she wouldn't run into the others, however when she turned a corner she ran smack dab into someone's back.

"Ack, gomensai." She apologized quickly with a small bow and was about to take off when she heard the person she ran into speak.

"Roll? Why are you here?" The voice asked making Roll blush.

"I could ask you the same Megaman." She replied with a cheery smile.

Megaman smiled a bit while his cheeks became red slightly. He rubbed the back of his neck in a sheepish manner as Roll planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Never mind, if it's not too important would you care to take me out on a date?" Roll said getting her hopes up.

Megaman sighed heavily not wanting to say no, but he didn't want her to know that he had  
been looking all over for her.

"Actually, could we go somewhere private? I want to speak to you without interruption." Megaman asked in a hushed tone as he took her hand making her blush also.

"Sure." She answered before he led her away to a more quiet area of the virtual city.

"So what is it you want to talk to me about?" Roll asked as Megaman looked around for prying ears, but determined there were none.

He sighed a little as he sat on the ground and held his head.

"I'm sorry for losing hope in the last battle, but without Lan's help I feel so…" Megaman trailed off.

Roll bent down and place a firm hand on his shoulder as she said, "If Lan was in the same situation I'm sure he would've felt the same."

She sighed inwardly as she realized they would be stuck in a conversation over Lan when she wanted to speak of other things, but she would give him the support he needed. She kept her expression warm as Megaman looked up into her eyes. He felt dismal and stuck in a rut as of late. Operation Shooting Star was gaining lots of progress, but he felt like they hadn't struck a chord or at least chip away at the roots the Blud organization had set.

"I just feel guilty to also agreeing with Chaud about having a psychiatrist check him. I can feel his dark feelings coming over to me. I just feel so lost." He went on.

Roll shook her head and took a stern tone with him, "It's the best for him and if it were the other way around I'm sure he would make the same decision. As for the Operation we've made progress, but no actual moves to strike at them. Chaud is just being wise in this since he wants to gather our forces and have the whole Blud Organization backed into a corner where they can't fight out of. Look at it this way, by finding out about them is a huge step toward eradicating the evil they pose and ensure they won't continue to do so. So buck up! The Megaman I know wouldn't be sitting on his butt. He would be standing his ground ready to take the fight to a whole new level."

Megaman stood up and smiled, "Thanks Roll."

"That's what I'm here for." Roll said taking Megaman's hand once more, "Now you owe me a date. Now."

Megaman laughed and allowed Roll to lead him away. He felt loads better now and could only retain a cheery chipper attitude for the rest of the time he spent with Roll.

As for Laika things were just peachy.

Laika let out a loud yawn as he read some of the messages Chaud had Protoman forwarding to him and Searchman. He was back at his hotel room sitting on a bed with his laptop sitting not too far from him and a cup of coffee occupied his left hand.

"Laika you should get some rest." Searchman suggested, "A prime mind needs it's daily dosage of sleep you know."

Laika yawned once more and sat his coffee on the nightstand and looked to Searchman on his laptop screen, "I know, I just want to finish these up and then I'll go to bed. Besides Chaud is probably still got more to send, but I promise after this batch is read, I will go to bed."

"Okay, just try not to be like Chaud at this point. He has a lot to handle and we need to be prepared in case he asks us to take more of the work load." Searchman said as he received the final forwarded message and showed it on screen for Laika to read.

"Interesting…" Laika murmured as he read the last one and had Searchman scroll down for him.

"What is it?" Searchman asked, his curiosity getting to him.

"It seems team Raoul found some unique people in Amerope. Apparently they possess some kind of power related to the cyber world." Laika explained, "Makes you wonder though, how these people seem to sprout up at random."

"I suppose so." Searchman mumbled.

"Well like I promised, that's enough for today." Laika said as Searchman logged out of  
the laptop to return to his PET and the turquoise haired man could put it away.

"You should turn on your sleep mode also. Don't need your energy levels dropping suddenly." Laika told his Navi as he set the PET on its charger and climbed into the bed.

"Of course, good night." Searchman said saluting Laika before he engaged his sleep mode.

"Good night, Searchman." Laika said turning out the light on the nightstand.  
Elsewhere a different kind of scene was playing out.

Protoman gave a rare smile when he returned from sending out messages and had left Chaud in his dark office with the only light emitting from his PET and the computer which he was seated at. The white and black haired boy had leaned back into his chair earlier fighting to keep his eyes open, but couldn't resist for long. He now sat in the chair snoring lightly with his hands still near the keyboard he had been typing away at.

Protoman logged himself into the computer and dimmed the screen brightness so his operator could sleep better. He also set to finish up whatever the teenager had been working on at the moment. He also paged a maid to sneak in and place a blanket on the boy so he wouldn't catch cold since the human body tends to lose heat quicker when in a REM cycle. After the maid left and Protoman finished up the last of the boy's work he returned to his PET and looked at his operator with a genuine smile.

"Good Night, Lord Chaud."

**CHAPTER END**  
_-_  
_This chapter changes scenes alot and I'm sorry if I gave you whiplash. Heh. Just before this next chapter I wanted to clear up a few loose ends on some of the characters not that there was much._


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: Trust**

"Lan." A woman called to the frustrated teen.

She was a woman well into her twenties with crème colored hair and deep blue eyes.

"I'm not talking to a shrink." Lan muttered looking out the window of his hospital room hoping she would give up and leave.

"Please Lan. I assure you it will help if you talk to someone about your problems." The woman said trying to soothe the boy into cooperating.

He continued to avoid making eye contact and scowled as he watched the scene of the window. It was after Maylu had left to go run a few errands that this woman had appeared introducing herself as Dr. Ciel of psychiatric studies. He hated shrinks and tried to refuse his cooperation, but the woman was persistent.

Dr. Ciel sighed heavily realizing that it was going to take a lot of patience, but she was going to fulfill her job.

She smiled determinedly as she decided to go ahead and begin their session, "Alright let's start with my first question. How long have you been feeling glum?"

Lan ignored her and continued to gaze out the window, but that didn't stop her.

"I'm only here because I was asked to be and hired. I plan to get my job done right." She went on, "Your friends say you've become distant and quiet, unlike your nature. Care to say why? Is it because you feel overshadowed by your brother's existence or perhaps it's your ego that has been demolished?"

She got a reaction finally after the third question.

"My ego is fine and I do not feel overshadowed by anyone." Lan snapped turning to face the woman with his rage face.

"Well judging by your reaction it appears there is something isn't it?" Dr. Ciel smiled a little devilishly, "I only want to help you Lan."

He glared at her intensely, "Well you should give up because I'm not going to spill my insides for you to play with. I am fine and don't have a need to see a shrink. Now get out!"

Dr. Ciel sighed and crossed her legs before she leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. She had dealt with tougher patients and she wasn't going to leave. She stared sternly at him and they locked gazes for the longest time.

"I can leave the room if I want, but I know the nurses and doctor won't let you leave so I will stay here for however long it takes." Dr. Ciel said calmly not breaking their eye contact, "This can go smoothly and be swift or I just might have to move into this room until you agree to cooperate."

He leaned back and closed his eyes while carefully folding his arms since his hand was still in repair. He couldn't yet feel his hand nor could he move his fingers to much without causing him some pain. It only had clothe bandages wrapped around it now even though he hardly had use of it. He slightly hoped the woman would disappear, but he knew that she would still be sitting there when he opened them again.

"I know all about Cache." She murmured hoping to draw back his attention.

Inwardly he flinched and his lip twitched barely noticeable. He kept his eyes closed though trying to fake her out by making it look like he had fallen asleep. He tried to relax his breathing so it would even sound like he had fallen asleep, but she wasn't falling for it.

"I know he occupied your mind for a time." She mentioned, "You must have felt helpless. Then again aren't you angered that your father kept-"

"SHUT UP!" Lan yelled instantly sitting up and curling his hands into fists.

He felt the pain in his damaged hand get immense, but ignored it with his current fury. He could feel it start bleeding again and the woman noticed, but she was still a little caught off guard with his outburst. She normally did approach her patients like this, but this boy had driven her to it.

"Careful Lan that hand needs to heal still and your gesture isn't helping." She stated pointing to his bleeding hand.

He kept his glare and raged on, "I don't care what all you know about me, but it's not any of your damn business to know it even if you were hired by someone's per suggestion!"

She kept quiet as the boy carried on.

"I don't need your help in dealing with my problems or with anything pertaining to my feelings! I'm FINE!" Lan growled.

"So you admit you do have problems. I just want to help you sort yourself out." She stated calmly despite the boy's fury tantrum.

"GET OUT!" He shouted almost screaming, which finally gained the attention of an on duty nurse who came in.

"What's going on here?" the nurse asked noticing the boy's bleeding hand and then ordered, "Mr. Lan Hikari I ask you to calm yourself down. You're making your hand bleed. Ma'am I need you to leave."

"I have clearance to be in here." Dr. Ciel told the nurse, "I am a psychiatric doctor hired to help Mr. Hikari here, with his undiscussed problems."

"Well for the health of the patient I must ask you to end your session. Mr. Lan Hikari has received many wounds that will reopen if he is provoked to do unsafe actions." The nurse explain, "I'm sorry, but those are my reasons."

"I see." Dr. Ciel said picking up her things and grinned at Lan before she left the room, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Lan seemed a lot calmer when his mother and brother came for a visit only to have his father join them. He then expressed his aggravation at having a shrink visit him to them and received different reactions from the three of them.

"Sorry son, but it's just we've noticed some things and thought that maybe it would be best if you could speak with a professional." Yuuchiro explained sheepishly as his bedridden son gave him a stern stare.

"We only want the best for you, sweetie." Haruka added warmly.

"Lan-" Saito started to say, but was interrupted as Lan lost his temper once more.

"You just don't want to deal with my wrath!" Lan shouted at his father, "Maybe next time don't keep life threatening secrets from me! I don't care if it's even my life at stake! You lied to me!"

"Son, it was for your own protection." Yuuchiro stated harshly taking in a parental tone.

"So who else knew? Huh? Who else?" Lan retorted unyielding.

He was losing it and fast. Saito tried keeping his own self calm because Lan's intense feelings were crawling over to him and infecting his own mind. He had to say something.

"Lan you need to calm down." Saito instructed his brother sternly.

Lan's fierce gaze left his father and went to face off with Saito's. It was too late before Saito realized he had looked into his mind.

"You-you knew too!" Lan snarled.

"Only just recently, like after you got kidnapped." Saito said quickly hoping to regain his brother's trust.

"Yeah, but after you reformed the link you didn't bother to say anything, just because Chaud told you not to." Lan said as he saw into some of Saito's memories.

"Lan….." Saito murmured as he watched a tear fall down his twin's cheek.

"Don't 'Lan' me, you…I…just…go." Lan lowered his head and leaned back with his bangs covering his face so they couldn't see him crying.

He gritted his teeth trying to suppress the tears, but was failing miserably.

"Lan…" Haruka murmured reaching for her son only to have her hand swiped away.

"Go…Go away….." He managed to say sternly.

Yuuchiro place his hands on Haruka's shoulder as he bent forward to whisper in her ear, "I think it's best we give him some space."

Haruka sighed helplessly and looked to Saito who was becoming overwhelmed by the emotions of his brother feeding into their psychic link. She gently placed a hand on Saito's shoulder as she Yuuchiro walked by and tugged him along. Saito could only follow them since he had no real chance of regaining his brother's trust at this point.

Elsewhere things were a little less intense.

"Hello?" asked Dr. Ciel as she picked up her office phone after it had rang.

"It's me." Came a voice from the opposite end.

"Ah, Mr. Blaze, I cannot tell you much, but I only made little progress today." Dr. Ciel informed the teenager.

Chaud chuckled a little, "He hates you doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but I've dealt with worse." Dr. Ciel stated as she pulled out a folder with a picture of a brunette wearing a blue bandanna with a goofy grin plastered to his face, "I'm surprised the Net Saviors don't even have a company psychiatrist for situation similar to this."

"I know. It's a mistake that will be fixed after this." Chaud said coolly.

"Well, be prepared to receive your first application for the position." Dr. Ciel remarked balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder as she looked through the file labeled 'Lan Hikari' and read over some more information.

"Are sure after dealing with him?" Chaud asked in jest.

Dr. Ciel let out a laugh as she joked, "Of course I get bored with civilians. A Net Savior's mind seems like more fun to pick at."

Chaud laughed a little too and then let out a sigh indicating that the conversation was about to turn serious, "Doctor please…..help him if he won't help himself."

"Mr. Blaze, I promise I will help your friend if not knock some sense back into his dense head." Dr. Ciel assured the boy once more.

"Thank you." Chaud uttered before he hung up the phone.

Dr. Ciel could only nod and sat the phone back into the receiver and placed the folder on her desk. She hoped tomorrow's session would have more progress than today. Perhaps she would have to try a different approach.

It was hours later when Maylu returned to visit Lan. She looked weary from running around or something like tha,t so Lan thought. He was more than overjoyed to see her, but a piece of him said otherwise. He looked at her with unchanging emotion on his face. Her smile faded once she saw the look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked drawing closer to the boy.

"Did you know too?" He dreaded asking, but he had to question her.

"Know what? Lan what's wrong? What are you talking about?" Maylu continued with her own questions, fear spreading.

"Did you betray my trust too?" He inquired in a hushed tone, "You knew about the Cache infection too, didn't you?"

Her eyes widened and she held back a gasp. He somehow found out that it was a secret kept for so long. She at first thought to lie to him, but she stopped herself knowing that it would be better for her and him to remain truthful.

"I'm sorry." She said looking down at her feet, "Lan, we only wanted to protect you. I wanted to protect you. I didn't want to see that goofy grin of yours to disappear and become a constant frown."

His expression remained unchanged as he looked out the window and saw a sparrow fly by. He was too worn out to get angry again, but then again….

"Lan, please don't be mad." Maylu begged as she reached for his hand.

He made no movement to hold the hand and only sat there staring as he asked, "Those encrypted reports….did you visit me that day because my father asked you to? Were you just a distraction that day?"

"Lan I," Maylu explained as she withdrew her hand back to her side, "had wanted to go on a date ever since you came back from the hospital, but-"

Lan let out a laugh when she uttered the 'but' and interrupted her. The sound of the laugh made her uneasy and she felt her heart sank as his eyes locked with hers and she could see the anger and pain for a brief moment.

"We're done." He said without hesitation and clarity in his voice.

"What?" Maylu wondered aloud fearing what he was meaning.

"You and I are over." He said his tone getting a little harsh, "We are no longer together as in no more as a couple, and or rather we are no longer boyfriend and girlfriend."

Maylu stood there, shell shocked at what she was hearing, but how could she blame him entirely. A tear slid from her eye and fell down her face as she watched him return to gazing out the window.

She stood there for five more minutes before Lan made the remark, "Need I say more for you to just leave me be?"

She was hurt by that and looked at him with anger, but he only returned a blank gaze with a small smug smile on his lips. She frowned and walked out of the room keeping her composure until she was far away from the hospital. She wanted to hate him, but alas she knew it was her fault that their relationship ended as it had.

Secrets kept will break people apart for in love you must trust one another.

CHAPTER END

**EDIT:** I _fixed the storyline so it works better now, thank you for the review Weedy Spyze. I needed a good slap to the face to wake me from this horrible nightmare of screwing up my ideas. Please don't hesitate to critique._


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: Helping**

Lan sat with one hand balancing his head while the other hand was curled around to hug his opposing hip. Two days had gone by since his fury attack and his horrendous break up with Maylu. He hadn't seen anyone since that day nor did he care to wonder. Actually the only person who dared to show up now was that dreaded psychiatrist except she had been real quiet for the last two times. She didn't ask any questions or try to provoke answers, but instead she sat there and took notes of his behavior it seemed.

He had first found the quietness of his room to be calming until she showed up, making him tense up. He relaxed a little when he realized she wasn't really going to bother him. He was starting to feel lonely, but no regret of his actions. The next day he took one bite of his curry and pushed it away to return to looking out the window all solemn. He went on like this for a few days, barely eating or saying a word. The doctors grew worried and now urged the psychiatrist to do her job.

"Lan." She called to him one day.

He ignored her not purposely, but he was sort of lost in a daydream at the time she called his name.

"Lan Hikari." She called once more gaining his attention slightly as she noticed him flinch a little.

"Huh?" He mumbled looking to her and scowled a little, "What?"

"It's time our sessions got in depth so I am going to ask you some questions every day from now on." Dr. Ciel warned with a plain expression on her face that hid a smile, at least Lan thought so.

"Fine." He muttered reluctantly as he shifted himself so he sat on the edge of the bedside.

"Alright let's begin." She said as she took a deep breath, "I've been noting your behavior over the last couple of days and I was wondering what made you so depressed as of now?"

He was silent as he looked to the floor indicating he was still resistant.

She went on, "Is it because you have pushed them all away? May I ask why you pushed your family and friends away? They all must be hurting as much as you are hurting them. Don't you care anymore?"

He mumbled something under his breath barely audible to her so she asked, "I'm sorry what was that you just said?"

He looked up and wore his same old frown he always gave her, "I said I do care about them."

She nodded slowly as she pulled up a clipboard and began to scribble down notes, "Okay, then why push them away? What is it they have done to earn your scorn?"

He looked away to his folded hands and sighed, "They betrayed me."

"How so?" She inquired further.

"They betrayed my trust and lied behind my back." He muttered as he examined his healing hand realizing he could bend his fingers a little more now without the pain.

"So did you voice that to them?" She asked taking out her water bottle to drink from it.

"Well…not directly, but they get the picture. I'm mad because they didn't care enough to tell me my own secret." He grumbled looking up to view the floor straight ahead of him, "They didn't want to say those dreaded words."

"What words?" She asked putting down her bottle.

"They couldn't say it to my face that I was a vessel for one of our old enemies." Lan murmured with a sigh.

"That is a big secret to keep, but did you think that maybe they didn't tell you because they didn't want you to worry or to give the one hiding himself in a chance to take over you." She wondered aloud hoping to get the gears in his mind spinning a bit.

"Yeah, I would have worried, but I would have been more prepared if he tried such a thing. It was more dangerous for me to be ignorant." Lan muttered folding his arms.

"I see, though I must ask if you would feel better moping around knowing that if you weren't careful enough the world would be destroyed?" Dr. Ciel decided to wonder hoping it would be food for thought.

The brunette became silent once more as the thoughts soon took hold.

"No." He finally said.

Dr. Ciel allowed a small smile to form on her lips as she realized that they were making some progress.

"Good. So do you still have some anger towards them all or do you believe you owe everyone an apology?" She asked shifting in her seat to a more comfortable position.

Lan was stumped on that thought. He was still infuriated with them, but she had a point. His friends and family only wanted to protect him and he was being a big jerk instead of thanking them. He was starting to regret his words and feelings now.

"Why don't we take a break and I'll come back tomorrow, okay?" She suggested putting away her clipboard and pen into her bag.

She went to the door and stopped to look back at the boy. She thought to say something, but decided against it. He had enough for today and she could feel her stomach rumbling for food. When she stepped out the door she noticed a young girl with dyed reddish pink hair standing outside the door. She blushed as Dr. Ciel made eye contact with her. A gentle harmless smile spread across the woman psychiatrist face to show her friendliness to the girl.

"Are you a friend of Lan Hikari's?" Dr. Ciel questioned the girl as she slightly recognized her, but could remember her exact placement of whether she was the boy's friend who just happened to be a girl or his girlfriend.

"In a way, yes." The teenage girl replied vaguely.

"Well perhaps your company will brighten his day, go on in. I'm sure seeing me every day is becoming an utter bore for him." Dr. Ciel went on keeping her voice low so the boy on the other side of the door would hear.

Not that he could with the wood of the door as thick as it was, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. The young girl merely shook her head in reply earning an inquisitive eyebrow raise from the woman doctor.

"Oh?" Dr. Ciel uttered hoping the girl would elaborate, but silence was her answer and as it was her job instincts to prude, she did. "Has he spurned you as well?" Dr. Ciel asked in an almost knowing tone.

The girl sighed before answering, "I was his girlfriend and because of his trauma…..no…it's my fault…"

"I can tell you still deeply care for him, which is good if you want to help him heal, but standing out here watching from afar will not do the trick." Dr. Ciel suggested figuring out what exactly the girl was up to.

The girl lowered her head in shame as she murmured, "I'm a coward. I'm too scared that I've gone too far in hiding things from him. I want to tell him everything and I know my apologies won't mend the lost trust, but I guess the reason I'm standing here is because I want to see him get better and in a way contribute."

"I'll make a deal with you." Dr. Ciel offered now after hearing the girl's side she felt it would help both the girl and the boy if she meddled, "If you can help him heal then perhaps we could do a together session like a relationship counseling to mend that part of him. Does that sound good?"

The girl nodded her head in reply.

"Alright, oh yes, last thing." Dr. Ciel went on almost completely walking away until she realized she had forgotten to ask, "What's your name?"

"Sakurai, Maylu Sakurai." Maylu replied to her.

"Ah, Maylu, I'm Dr. Ciel, Lan's psychiatrist." Dr. Ciel said before giving a swift wave goodbye to the girl, "Now I'm off."

The blonde haired woman left the young girl behind as she made her way through the normal hospital floor traffic anxiously. As she stood and waited for the elevator to come up to her floor, her cell phone began to ring.

"Hello?" She asked after she clicked the pickup button.

"I must seem overbearing, but how was today?" a voice asked from the other side.

"Mr. Blaze you know my policy that patient confidentiality is high on my priority list." Dr. Ciel said to the teenager on the other end, "Besides I promise you that I am making progress. I must also ask you not to call me every day. It's getting slightly ridiculous."

"Right, sorry." Chaud immediately said before he hung up.

Maylu laid in her bed unmoving since she had returned yesterday. She was still shell shocked at Lan's actions of yesterday and she wondered if he had been in the right to distrust her or if he had the right to call it quits on their relationship. While she sat blaming herself, even after talking to Dr. Ciel, Roll was wondering if she could leave Maylu for a bit or not.

"Maylu?" She called a little reluctant, "Maylu?"

Maylu didn't answer at all making Roll worry even more.

"Maylu I'll be right back okay?" Roll informed her operator as she prepared to log into the internet, "Please don't spend all of today sulking, okay?"

Roll hesitated a moment hoping the girl lying on the bed would stir and maybe stop her from leaving, not that she wanted to be stopped. Roll sighed and logged into the Net City. She then solemnly headed off to the Hikari homepage.

Saito was using Lan's computer to work on some research for school when Roll popped up on a screen making him jump back a little.

"Jeez Roll. A little warning next time, okay?" Saito halfheartedly grumbled.

"Did your father tell you yet?" Roll asked ignoring the earlier comment.

"Tell me what?" Saito asked confused at what Roll was trying to ask him.

"About Lan's break up with Maylu." Roll said gingerly.

"What? No this is the first I've heard of it." Saito stated in surprise and then he went on, "Then again it shouldn't be much of a surprise to me with the way he has been acting lately."

"Megaman I'm sorry." Roll said lowering her head.

"Huh? Sorry for what?" Saito asked in wonder.

"I'm not as helpful as I thought I was." Roll murmured in reply.

"Roll, that's not true." Saito said grabbing the sides of the monitor wishing he had Rush, but the dog was at the Science Labs because Dr. Hikari had asked for him so Saito was stuck in reality, unable to jump into the cyber realm and shake Roll out of her downward spiral, "You gave me strength I never knew I had and you are always there for me when I need you. Roll….I….I…I love you."

"Mega…I love you too, but I just don't know how to help Maylu through this. Lan was so cold to her when she last visited him and she was shocked. I just don't know what to do for her." Roll explained, "He was her only love."

"I know. It's just for the best that she stays away from him for now. Lan has become different in who he used to be. I noticed it too and I think it's the weight of not knowing about Cache and the psychological pain of the torture he went through that has him stuck in a dark place. He's even pushed me away because he feels betrayed and wants to heal on his own, but he needs help." Saito explained.

He looked out his window towards the general direction of where Lan was and sighed briefly before returning his attention back to the monitor. Roll looked at him her feelings helplessness disappearing.

"Give me a moment and I'll go talk to Maylu." Saito said gathering his papers together and closing out of screens.

Roll nodded and disappeared back to her PET. Saito dashed down the stairs gaining his mother's attention as she came into the hallway as he was putting on his shoes.

"What's the hurry?" Haruka asked.

"Nothing, I'm just going over to Maylu's for a bit." Saito informed his mother.

"Oh, okay. Supper is at seven." Haruka called after her son as he rushed out the door closing it gently as he went.

It didn't take him long to make it up to Maylu's room after all they were neighbors, practically the girl next door. Saito didn't rush into the room, but slowly entered.

"Maylu?" He whispered as he opened the bedroom door a crack to peer in.

"Lan?" Maylu murmured in surprise as she sat up in the bed only to see it was not who she thought it was, "Oh, hello Saito."

Saito came and sat on the edge of her bed and tried to give her a warm smile hoping to raise her spirits, but she hugged her pillow her expression fervent as she looked away.

"Maylu I'm sorry about Lan's attitude of late, but it's best if we all give him his space. He's been through a lot." Saito said first breaking the awkward silence, "He probably didn't mean to snap at you like he did."

Maylu looked at Saito in wonder, "Are you sure? I think he's right. I did betray his trust and it was terrible of me to use myself as a distraction. If I hadn't agreed to do so he wouldn't have been kidnapped nor would I feel so guilty. He was right and I was so stupid to think he wouldn't find out or that he would be so angry. I was supposed to love him not hurt him."

Saito looked down at his feet in thought, "Maylu whatever happened happens because it supposed to, but I know for a fact that you and Lan are meant for each other. Nothing is your fault."

"Thank you, but I don't feel much better with those words. Maybe it's best I just focus on other things and forget about love. We have a mission and it's best if I focus on that. For then I know if we succeed then I know Lan will be safe as will the world." Maylu said her gaze refocused to the floor.

Saito shook his head, "As much as the world needs our help, so does Lan, in fact I think tomorrow we both should go see him and let him know that despite his feelings toward us currently, we want to show that we care and will be there for him."

Maylu smiled at him, "Dr. Ciel was sort of suggesting the same thing. I met her yesterday, but I think because I didn't know her that well, I didn't trust her to really help."

"Huh? What'd she promise?" Saito wondered aloud to Maylu.

Maylu looked to him her smile slightly fading as she spoke, "She said she could help mend our relationship and perhaps Lan and I could be a couple again."

"I see." Saito said in thought, "Well then we should start helping this process along. I promise tomorrow after school that we'll both go pay him a visit."

"Okay." Maylu agreed after a moment of thought earning a small smile from the twin brother.

"Well I should probably head for Sci labs now to see if Rush is done there." Saito said getting to his feet.

"Yeah, I'll be there." Maylu stated as she rubbed her eyes, "Thanks again, Saito."

Saito just shrugged before he left and gave Roll a wink.

Deep in the Undernet a beast like navi was roaming towards the gate that lead to the original cyber world. He stopped in his tracks for a moment as he heard a distant roar and gasped. In fear he picked up his pace and ran as fast as he could for the gate not looking back. A giant beast loomed far behind, but it was catching up. He only had inches between him and the claws that swiped at him when he jumped into the gate. The beast roared in anger as it could not follow the Navi through the gate and soon vanished like a ghost. Not too far off a cloaked being watched the devastation the creature had left in its wake and smirked.

CHAPTER END

EDIT: _I just added in some conversations and I'm hoping this is helping the story. If you can't tell there is shipping going on, but alas that ain't my main focus._


	25. Chapter 25

Finally finished this. I AM SO SORRY everyone for screwing up in the first place and now here's my excuses...at the end of this chapter in the next author's note for now please read...

**Chapter 25: Emotional drainage**

Lan was lost in thought looking blindly up at the ceiling as he was. He didn't know whether to regret his actions of late or not. It hurt that the secret about him being the vessel of Cache was not shared even if the reasons were a bit good, but he felt like his feelings weren't considered at all. His frustration was mostly placed on his father except he wasn't much of a father to Lan anymore as he thought about it his relationship with him.

It had been built upon trust, trusting that this man, his genetics came from, would provide for him and help lead the boy towards his future. Protect and nurture, was a simple task the man was failing. Sure he had a well-paid job that helped provide food and shelter. Although he was never home and hence forth never there for Lan and his mother. The hate was starting to settle in as he realized the only time he really got to know his father was when he and Megaman became Net Savers. Now with Saito alive again and able to be both a son and a Netnavi rendering Lan as a retired Net Saver, the boy guessed.

A knock on the door woke him from his thoughts and then it opened.

"Lan?" came his father's voice as the door was opened a jar, "Are you awake?"

Lan scowled and looked away from the door. Yuuchiro poked his head in to check and see if his son was indeed awake. He proceeded to the teenager's side and began to converse with him although it was one sided. Lan gritted his teeth and then suddenly in the middle of his father speaking he met him with fierce eyes.

"Don't start acting like you actually care about me!" Lan growled silencing Yuuchiro.

Yuuchiro stared at his son for a moment and then sternly replied, "Lan be reasonable, I do ca-"

"No! You don't! All those times you promised to come home and never did because you didn't care to try!" Lan burst out interrupting his father once more, "You were never really interested in being a father. Sure you saved Saito and gave him new life, but that was to keep mom and me thinking you still cared. After being inducted into the Net Saver division of the Net Police, only then did we get to spend time together, however I finally started to see that only if I was a part of your work that you would actually engage your fatherly duties. I may not be a genius, but I'm not completely incompentant!"

"Lan! That's ridiculous your mother understood that our marriage would be strained with this job and I thought you understood too." Yuuchiro fired back, "I'll admit that what I've done was wrong and unfair, but forgiveness is all I'm asking from you right now. Now Lan this isn't like you to be as hostile as you are with all of us, in fact I'm starting to wonder what happened to my son."

Lan let out a cruel laugh in response to his father's jest.

"Seriously? You're wondering what's happen to my attitude I once had?" Lan jeered and then went super serious as he spoke in a low tone, "I was kidnapped, tortured, nearly killed. Almost had my girlfriend die right next to me, but maybe I should have let her since she was in cohoots with the man that kept a dangerous secret from me. Something I should have known about. I shouldn't be alive, but I am because you finally decided to tell my brother at least. At least he won't be disappointed with you ever, it's in his programming."

"Lan I never meant for-" Yuuchiro tried to interject.

"Enough! What's done is done!" Lan said throwing his arms up in the air for added effect, "Now that settled, get out."

"Lan-" Yuuchiro rumbled, but he couldn't get his son to listen to reason let alone him.

"No. I'm not listening to another word from you. You aren't my father, rather the man who married my mom. Nothing more or less to me, now that I finally get it and see. GET OUT!"

Yuuchiro's expression changed drastically from shock to pure anger as he grabbed his son by his shoulders and spoke sternly in his own defense.

"Lan Hikari, you listen to me and you better listen well!" Yuuchiro began his scolding, "I'm not perfect in any way, I make mistakes! I realized after you were kidnapped that I had made the biggest mistake of all. I didn't trust my own son enough to tell him the truth and was too much of a coward. What you went through was hell for having no knowledge of Cache living inside you because I made a horrible judgment call, but know that I did it because I loved you too much to break such news devastating news to you. I thought maybe I could find a way to cure you on my own, but time was against us. Things haven't been well with us in the past with my job getting in the way all the time, but it's because I'm building you a future, a future in which everyday life is so simple that the stress previous generations had to endure will cease. Perhaps it was wrong for me to put myself to your future rather than trying to be in your present. I realize now that is a mistake and I would've hoped you would find it in your heart to forgive, but it seems I've let this go on for too long."

Tears were falling off his father's chin slowly and Lan was starting to see sense, but his words were already burning. His shoulders were released and Lan was regretting his own words. Perhaps he had been too harsh, but then again it is impossible to go back and alter the past. He knew this as he would often regret actions or words he had spoken and always wished to go back and fix it.

His father step back and wiped his eyes, removing his glasses for a moment to do so.

"I'll leave you now, as you wished for me to do so earlier, but know that no matter what you say to hurt me and your mother is that we will love you no matter what and that parental love makes us do crazy things." Yuuchiro finished before walking out of the room, leaving his offspring to ponder.

A few moments later Lan was crying for he didn't know if the regret he was feeling now was right or not. He had been betrayed and they had come asking, but he denied them forgiveness. Was he wrong to do so? Had he been too harsh? If so would they be open to him returning the question of forgiveness? Would they allow it even? No it was not yet time for his regret having only his father come asking, would the others even dare to do so after his outbursts and claims.

He too wiped his eyes and then stared at his bandaged hand. Had he come to his realizations previous to being kidnapped, he wondered if he would have protected Maylu just the same or not. In the back of his mind he knew he wouldn't let her die, that was cruel, way too cruel for him. He wasn't a villain, nor would he let anyone die in front of him.

He leaned back into the pillows propping him up and let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he did so. Letting his mind run off in tangents of differing thoughts, like a runaway train switching tracks every so often as his mind dwelled on. He was like this for several moments before initially drifting off into a simple slumber.

Meanwhile, back at school, Saito was having similar issues with his own thought process. It was the middle of his science class, the generalized name of it, the instructor was going on about Stephen Hawking's theory of time travel and the mechanics of it. It was a very interesting subject to Saito, but he just couldn't focus since there was only fifteen minutes left of the class, his last class of the day. It had been on his mind all day of waiting for Maylu, meeting up to go visit his hospitalized twin. He was frankly worried and how his brother would react to them and if maybe he could get him to see sense. Highly unlikely Saito was guessing as during the lunch period he nearly had an emotional outburst. The feelings had been alien and he knew it was because of his connection that those feelings had flooded him. Plus Lan and him had discovered if they had a strong enough emotion, the other could feel it as well.

Saito was pulled from his thoughts finally by his PET screen lighting up as an unread email had just transferred to his inbox. He put down his pencil and brought his book closer to mask his movements from the teacher. He waited a second as the instructor turned around to write on the board, still explaining the time travel theory and was beginning to illustrate a scenario of how it could be done. He quickly opened the message and saw it was from his mother. Apparently she had just received word from his dad that he had just visited Lan and things were still not much better attitude wise.

"I figured that." Saito mumbled not realizing he had and then heard his named called.

"What was that, Hikari?" rang out the instructor's voice making Saito freeze and slowly look up to meet the eyes of the older man that gave back a stern gaze.

"Um…uh…." Saito began to stammer out as he tried to quickly analyze what was on the board to make it seem like he was paying attention, "What I meant was I kind of figured that fifty million miles per hour is way over the speed of light."

"Oh is it now?" the instructor replied folding his arms, "Just how fast is the speed of light exactly?"

Saito gulped as he quickly formulated the equation in his head and slowly answered out, "It is, I believe it's exactly one hundred eighty-six thousand and two hundred and eighty-two miles per second."

If he were in the cyber world, Saito knew he could have answered the question more quickly, but alas being human he was slower. He waited silently for a reply from his instructor which was a basic stared down, but Saito kept his face emotionless.

Finally the instructor smiled and chuckled out, "I guess Germany has already got this pounded into your brain, Hikari, but that doesn't mean you can distract yourself in class for repetition is the best learning tool. Now moving on from that explanation….."

Saito let a small breath of relief leave him and he returned to taking notes. Thankfully the class ended and thus the school day as well. He packed his things and was out the door faster than anyone else. He had been waiting forever it felt like and now he understood Lan's feelings about school fully. He leaned against the wall that was connected to the gate as he waited. His hands shoved into the pockets of his gray jacket as he waited. It wasn't long before the dyed red head appeared before him she looked a bit relunctant, but he didn't blame her as he was feeling the same.

"Hey, you ready?" She asked the brunette boy before her with her backpack slung over one shoulder.

He stood up and nodded to her, "Yeah."

"I was afraid you were going to get detention because you were so out of it during class and then the random mumbling." Maylu mentioned as they walked to the subway station that was only a few blocks away from the school.

"Yeah, me too." Saito said rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment, "My mom emailed me was all."

"Oh? Was it about Lan?" Maylu asked adjusting her pink shirt a bit.

Saito sighed heavily, "Yeah…Dad went in today to talk to him and it seems like he's still pretty mad. I believe it's mostly with our father that he's upset with the most, but frankly I don't blame him much. Then again I think it's the connection that's making me feel the same."

"You did leave the room abruptly during lunch." Maylu asked, "Is everything okay?"

"I was completely fine it was just I think the connection….if one of us has a strong enough emotion it will carry over to the other. I think Lan had an outburst with dad and I almost did the same, but without dad being present." Saito informed her as they paused waiting for the traffic signal to let them know they could cross.

"Oh." Maylu replied as the signal changed allowing them to cross and they were both silent until they reached the hospital entrance and Maylu spoke again, "I'm scared."

"Of what?" Saito asked turning around to face her as he didn't realize she was hanging back and now paused in his steps.

"Lan, I'm afraid he's going to hate me forever if I show my face to him now." Maylu admitted hugging herself slightly.

Saito sighed and shook his head, "That's nonsense, you'll never know unless you try. You had the courage to come this far and even agree to do this. You can't back out now, you've come this far, why not see it through?"

"Indeed." Roll added in as a minuscule hologram of the pink Navi appeared on the girl's shoulder, "Whatever happens will happen, that is fate. Plus Maylu, don't you want to remember that you did try instead of wondering what could've of happened if you don't."

Maylu took a breath and nodded to both her Navi and Saito appreciating their encouragement. She took lead and pretty soon the three of them were outside the door to Lan's room. Roll had retreated into the PET of her owner leaving now only two of the original party to hesitate. Maylu gulped and knocked nervously on the door.

"What?!" a grumpy toned voice responded roughly.

Saito pushed on inside the room with Maylu following close behind.

"Oh? It's you guys." Grumbled the brunette as he slumped back into his pillows propping him up, "What do you want?"

"Lan, we just want to apologize and talk is all, no need to be all hostile." Saito explained calmly.

Lan folded his arms and his muscles tensed. He glared at them for a moment and then softened his gaze as he sighed.

"Fine." He mumbled and Saito then sensed his brother's inner turmoil of regret and anguish.

"Can I explain myself first?" Maylu asked interjecting before Saito could speak for himself, "About Cache, it was wrong of me to agree with your father and Chaud to hide it from you, but we hoped it would prevent Cache from taking over you sooner. Your father promised us that this was his conclusion after a thorough analysis. I realize how horribly wrong it was for me to go along with lying to you and even trying have you avoid the truth. I was at fault completely and Saito. He didn't even know until Chaud told him after you were kidnapped-"

"ENOUGH!" Lan growled at Maylu instantly quieting her, "If you're going rant about how innocent you are and how sorry you are, I don't want to hear it. Not at this point! Just leave me be Maylu."

Maylu bit her lip a little hurt and Lan turned to Saito now to converse with him.

"After you knew, why didn't you bother telling me?" Lan started in on his brother harshly.

Saito frowned and replied back just as harshly, "I was more focused on trying to locate you rather than tell you at the time of torture that, 'oh hey brother guess what! You're the vessel for Cache return which should be soon.', yeah I really wanted to tell you that in that moment! All that mattered was bringing you home!"

There was a long pause as the twins glared at each other and then Lan finally relaxed. If it had been the reverse he would've done the same, that was a fact, but it just still hurt. He nodded to his brother uneasily. Both understood each other easily not because of their psychic connection, but from experience. Maylu though, wasn't pleased with the results of meeting with her ex-boyfriend.

"Oh I see how it is, Lan Hikari. You'll hear out your brother and not have anything to do with me, not even bother to listen to reason!" Maylu hissed out as she fumed with mixed feelings of rage and sorrow.

That set Lan off again as he sharply twisted his eyes to her and frowned deeply before responding.

"Saito's my family, closer to me than my father, you, and even my mother! He didn't come all the way here to whine and cover his ass by placing the blame elsewhere. He took responsibility for his actions and justified them! Now, GET OUT!" Lan ranted at the red head making her tear up.

"I see then." Maylu started, "I'm not leaving so easily. I came all the way her to patch things up and maybe earn forgiveness so we could at least be on speaking terms, but it seems you don't want to put effort into that. I guess you can't get over yourself and your trauma."

Lan balled up his fists so tight that his right hand started to bleed through all the bandages and Saito sensed that it was because the wound had reopened, but Lan didn't noticed as he shouted at Maylu scorning her.

"I SAID GET OUT! NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Lan shouted at the top of his lungs and Maylu grew red in the face as she tried to hold herself back, but it was for not as she burst into tears and sobbed as she sprinted out of the room.

"Lan! That was a little overboard." Saito remarked, "Besides your making your wound reopen and bleed.

Lan grimaced as he cradled his right hand slightly he wanted to retaliated a response to his brother, but he had exhausted himself from the rage and regret. Sorrowful eyes glance to Saito's for a moment before his twin turn away.

"Leave me be for now." Lan murmured.

"Should I fetch a nurse first?" Saito wondered with worry.

"Frankly, Saito, I just don't know anymore." Lan admitted, "I just don't know."

Chapter END

First off thank you Weedy Spyze for reading a reviewing, I noticed when I went back and fixed that first chapter that I got a great deal more followers and favorites. That pleases me greatly and makes me want to update faster, but alas here are my excuses...Drama, college, life. Just a week ago my external hard drive I've had for half a year crashes on me and I did everything in my power and called in favors even, no data could be saved so I lost all my college projects I've done up to this point and will have to spend my next school break making new porfolio piece, Thank God I have another year before graduation otherwise...yeah...drama drama drama drama...life? Keeps kicking me around, thankfully I have a job again and love it! I can now totally stress out on my homework! Not that, that's enjoyable. I want to thank everyone who keeps up with the story and takes the time to review after reading it really helps a fledging writer like me improve and have confidence. I stress the need for critiques and will work on the other chapters now.


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